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BE OF GOOD CHEER" 



JOSEPH SAAN DYKE, D.D. 



" Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life, 
Such a Way as gives us breath; 
Such a Truth as ends all strife; 
Such a Life as killeth death. 

" Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart. 
Such a Joy as none can move; 
Such a Love as none can part; 
Such a Heart as joys in love." 

George Herbert. 




BOSTON 
SHERMAN, FRENCH & COMPANY 

1911 



Bfof6& 






Copyright, 1911 
Sherman, French &> Company 



©CI.A292242 



PREFACE 

This volume is written in the hope that it 
may aid to some extent in cheering hearts which 
sadness has entered. 

As consolation, unlike the seeds of the forest, 
may readily find soil in which to take root, we 
are encouraged to hope that if the truths herein 
presented are life-germs from the Treasury of 
the Lord, they will be conveyed by the influences 
of heaven to troubled hearts and may aid in 
transforming gloom into sunshine. If such 
shall be the case, the author's labors shall have 
rewards which an angel might covet. 

If the reader finds comforts which his heart 
craved, let him press the cup of sweetness to 
some brother's quivering lips. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Nights in Every Human Life . 1 
II. Songs in the Nights of Human 

Life 11 

III. Sunshine, but a Cloud: a Cloud, 

but Sunshine 21 

IV. Oveb-Anxiety and Its Cube . . 34s 
V. God's Intebest in Us . . . .48 

VI. Restlessness — Restfulness . . 59 

VII. The Eabth Full of Mebcy . . 70 

VIII. Cheeb vs. Folly 79 

VERSE 

MOUBNEB 93 

Eveb Neab, O Lobd, to Thee . . 95 

The Baby's Dead 97 

Be Silent 98 

The Pleading Soul .... 99 

God Reigns 100 



CONTENTS 

Grace to Help . 








PAGE 

101 


Pathways to Glory 








102 


Ye Are God's Temple 








103 


Christ Calling . 








104 


Going Home . 








105 


Missionary Hymn . 








. 108 


My Friend and I 








109 


Ever True to Thee 








116 


Condescending Greatness 






117 


Longings 








119 



BE OF GOOD CHEER" 



NIGHTS IN EVERY HUMAN LIFE 

The view which persons take of human life de- 
pends in measure upon temperament. Some 
are disposed to spend their days in moaning 
and their nights in gloom. If perchance their 
miseries are forgotten for a short time, only a 
caricature of cheerfulness plays over features 
more used to express despondency — brief smiles 
between long sighs. Miserableness seems to 
them a luxury. They shroud the world in 
darkness, excluding joy from their hearts and 
happiness from their homes. They cover 
heaven's vault with crape. They ignore the 
sources of joy that encircle them, and insist 
that life must be passed in a dungeon. Ask 
them to gaze on nature, as clad in beauty it 
testifies that the world is as full of the evi- 
dences of God's goodness as it is of the effects 
of man's sin, and they are tempted to regard 
you as an object of pity. Bid them remember 
that our Father delights in the happiness of 
his creatures, and they persist none the less 
in wearing a countenance which joy is seldom 
permitted to brighten. 

Others, being of a cheerful temperament, are 
disposed to look upon the sunny side of every- 
1 



2 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

thing, and manage to discover that the sun 
can fringe every cloud. Elastic in spirits, 
they do not permit adversity to depress them. 
If hindered from doing what they intended to 
do they find pleasure in doing something else 
— even in doing nothing. If it storms to-day, 
they expect sunshine to-morrow. When forced 
to drink bitter waters, they anticipate sweet 
beverages soon. Bent on extracting good from 
trials, they learn that poisonous berries will 
make medicine, that bushes with thorns may 
bear roses, that orchards on hillsides produce 
fruit. 

There are others, a third class, who are 
sometimes on the mountain top and sometimes 
in the valley — neither very long. The loftier 
their joy, the deeper their gloom, the former 
being a measure of the latter, as the height of 
the mountain determines the depth of the val- 
ley. Under adversity they fix their gaze upon 
the somber aspects of life, and under changed 
conditions they look exultingly upon the cheer- 
ful. 

A fourth class maintain hope under all con- 
ditions, being at no time either over-joyous or 
greatly depressed. As a result of temperament 
or as the fruitage of trustfulness they are 
neither exalted by prosperity nor cast down by 
adversity. 

In one form or another and at one time or 



NIGHTS IN EVERY HUMAN LIFE 3 

another, darkness comes to all. In consequence 
of diversity of disposition night comes oftener 
and with intenser blackness to some than to 
others ; nevertheless, uninterrupted sunshine is 
the possession of none. Each is forced to ex- 
claim, Anguish is man's inheritance — a spring 
of grief in every heart. Why? Is it that men 
may discover the provision God has made for 
comforting his children? Is it that we may 
feel the greatness of the loss which sin has 
entailed? 

Trial may be regarded as the portion of all. 
The waves of a sea, lashed by tempests, brooded 
over by darkness and strewn with wrecks, dash 
against the foundations of happiness. Those 
submerged leave only an exclamation to mark 
the place where they sank. Of those that fol- 
low, some pause in their moanings long enough 
to shout, Gloom encircles me, indecision un- 
mans me, loneliness appalls me. Others, set- 
ting sail in early life on waters that glitter 
in the sunlight, are carried into storm centers 
ere they are aware. 

To some comes the loss of property; and 
in the change from affluence to poverty friends 
desert them, and penury deepens till they are 
scarcely able to procure the necessaries of life. 
Prosperity, which they expected would be un- 
ending, has left them destitute of the qualities 
which might have fitted them to endure hard- 



4 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

ships. Such a night came to Irene, who won 
the affections of Leo IV, Emperor of the 
Eastern Roman empire. The marriage cere- 
monies were celebrated with pomp, and the 
young empress seemed the happiest of mortals. 
By the will of her husband she was declared 
guardian of the empire and her young son. 
On the death of Leo, she was crowned Em- 
press. Her life was not all sunshine, however. 
Her son Constantine desired to reign, and 
plotted to effect her overthrow. The mother 
flogged him. This inspired a second effort, 
ending in success. Darkness, however, had not 
yet settled upon artful Irene. By flattering 
the bishops she regained popular favor; and 
her accomplices, seizing the young adventurer 
and dragging him into the palace, put out his 
eyes at the command of Irene, who afterward 
tortured his helplessness to gratify her spirit 
of revenge. Her crimes passed unpunished. 
The Roman world was bowing at her feet. 
Kings and conquerors kissed her tinseled slip- 
pers. When she moved through the streets of 
Constantinople the reins of her milk-white 
horses were held by nobles. Call no one happy, 
till the grave claims its own. Without warn- 
ing the tempest burst. Constantinople is in 
tumult. The temper of the populace makes it 
evident that Irene's protracted day of pros- 
perity has ended. On petition, the Senate 



NIGHTS IN EVERY HUMAN LIFE 5 

spares her life. Her prayer for an honorable 
retreat and a decent maintenance was answered 
in the negative. Driven into exile she earned a 
precarious living by spinning and selling the 
products of her toil in a market where her 
presence was unwelcome. On an island, dreary 
and desolate, night settled down upon Irene. 

To others comes failing health. They are, 
by consequence, unequal to the duties which 
confront them. Days passed in pain and nights 
in weariness force upon them the conviction that 
life's future is clouded. Their eyes lose luster ; 
their walk, elasticity ; their voice, cheerfulness ; 
their spirits, buoyancy. Gloom encircles them, 
struggles confront them, fears pursue them, 
clouds overhang them, the grave yawns beneath 
them. 

There are those to whom foreboding in ref- 
erence to the future of society brings a night 
of gloom. They ask, Is not society retrograd- 
ing? — are not crimes becoming more frequent? 
— are not the sterling qualities oozing out of 
human character? The student of history is 
disposed to answer, The world is advancing; 
there is less cruelty, less duplicity, less igno- 
rance, less superstition, less treachery, less dis- 
regard of the rights of conscience; more prin- 
ciple, though not enough to warrant us in 
believing that the millennium has dawned ; more 
religion, though it does not yet threaten to 



6 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

abbreviate the life of communities ; more char- 
ity, albeit the queen of the graces has not 
erected a throne in every heart; more honesty, 
more truthfulness, more sobriety, more safety 
to life and property; happier homes, kinder 
husbands, more affectionate wives, more obedi- 
ent children, more self-sacrificing friends and 
more intelligent citizens ; nevertheless, human 
nature is still capable of uttering falsehoods, 
of practicing dishonesties, of showing unkind- 
ness and of wallowing in bestiality. Human 
nature is still unchanged, only veneered and 
varnished — underneath, hideousness. 

Even to those whose day of satisfaction with 
self has been lengthy there may come a night 
of remorse. Transgressors of divine laws may 
find a lesson in the biography of Constance II, 
one of the emperors who ruled during the six 
hundred years of the decline of the Eastern 
portion of the Roman empire. He was crowned 
at the age of twelve. Seated on the throne, 
he was tortured in a few years by the fear that 
his elder brother might conspire against him. 
Consequently, Theodosius was ordered to enter 
a monastery. Constance, however, soon con- 
cluded that the grave was the only place for 
one whose crime was a right to a throne. 
Hence, he murdered him ; and received from his 
subjects the name Cain Second. Years rolled 
by, crowning Constance with honor, power, in- 



NIGHTS IN EVERY HUMAN LIFE 7 

fluence, dominion, success, riches. When at the 
height of his glory an exasperated people 
drove him into exile. He could not escape, 
however, from the apparition of murdered 
Theodosius, from whose hand he had received 
the sacramental cup, and whom his conscience 
pictured standing before him with a cup of 
blood in his hand and shouting, "Drink, 
brother, drink." 

There is a night, the season of affliction, 
which comes to all, though with keener anguish 
to some than to others. They are few who 
have no trials to vex them, no cares to annoy 
them, no enemies to harass them, no disap- 
pointments to sadden them, no anguish to de- 
press them; fewer still are they who have no 
bereavements to burden the soul. Sooner or 
later affliction's night comes to every one. A 
father passes behind the curtain or a mother's 
heart ceases to throb. A brother joins the 
brotherhood of another country or a sister 
leaves only memories around a grave; aching 
hearts remain behind. A husband takes up 
his abode in the city of the dead or a wife 
passes where love is undying; darkness settles 
upon a desolated home. The babe, folded in 
angelic arms, is borne to a happier clime; hot 
tears wet its coffin. 

I need scarcely remind you that trial often 
comes through the waywardness of loved ones. 



8 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

A father, a husband, a wife, a son — possibly a 
daughter — has chosen the way that leads to dis- 
honor. Associations are becoming worse and 
temptations are dashing against an already en- 
feebled will. Friends, becoming disheartened, 
are relaxing efforts ; the heart sickens, the brain 
grows weary, the eye fills with tears. 

It is useless to attempt an enumeration of the 
trials that come to human hearts. Why assay 
a task so arduous? This is not a funeral ser- 
mon, not even of the kind that is seemingly 
destined to displacement by a praise-service. 
To some, the conjecture that their coffined body 
may excite eulogy is fitted to produce a night 
of sadness. 

As no two are constituted alike, we should 
be slow to measure other people's conduct and 
spirit in our own bushel-basket. Possibly, we 
were born with more cheerful spirits than they, 
the star of hope being by consequence always 
in the zenith. Perhaps, when an enemy has 
trampled on us to-day, we feel certain a friend 
will lift us up to-morrow. When it is sunshine 
we are not thinking of coming storms, and 
when it storms we are thinking of coming sun- 
shine. However severe the winter, we are con- 
fident the spring will come and the birds sing 
again amid blooming flowers. Friends will 
smile; night will end. Those who inherit such 
hopefulness are not qualified to appreciate the 



NIGHTS IN EVERY HUMAN LIFE 9 

efforts put forth by some to maintain cheer- 
fulness. Why marvel that those are despond- 
ent who are imagining that matters will grow 
worse and worse? They are brooding over 
past misfortunes and anticipating new disasters. 
When the sun shines they are sure it shines too 
brightly to continue shining, and when it rains 
it rains immoderately. The birds that sing 
ought to take lessons in sweetness of song from 
birds that sang twenty-five years ago. When 
the weather is bad it is insufferably bad, and 
when it is fine it is a weather-breeder. If their 
ventures fail, it was what they expected ; if they 
succeed, the success is meager. They look 
upon everything through blue glasses — even 
the sun's rays are bluish. Their homes are 
cheerless ; the grass in their yards is dead or 
dying — been a cerulean blue all the season, 
several seasons, never been any other color. 
Their friends are selfish and their enemies un- 
reasonable. The world has been stricken with 
paralysis and their native land, for which they 
have made so many sacrifices, is unable to raise 
its little finger to aid them, and would not if 
it could. Business has become overwhelmingly, 
irretrievably good-for-nothing. Frozen be- 
neath icebergs of dishonesty its chances of im- 
provement are as small as the mercy of a mos- 
quito. Men have no principle, women no 
beauty, children no innocence, homes no com- 



10 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

fort, hearts no affection, earth no fountains of 
joy. The optimist regards this as a case of 
torpid liver; and persists that he who groans 
might have learned to sing, or at least might 
have kept humming, thereby smothering sighs. 
Since at some time and in some form night 
comes to all, and since hearts experienced in 
sorrow are best qualified "to speak a word in 
season to them that are weary," we may re- 
gard it as an evidence of divine goodness that 
our Father has commissioned men rather than 
angels to minister to us in things religious. 



II 

SONGS IN THE NIGHTS OF HUMAN 
LIFE 

Songs have marvelous power over human 
hearts. Rendering us forgetful of the miseries 
that environ us, they bear us on wings of hope 
to a celestial sphere, making us in spirit the 
companions of angels. Out of earth's worries 
up through the arches of the invisible they 
seem to waft us into an ecstasy of delight. 

If songs are needed we may conclude that 
they have been given. Our Father has made 
provision for supplying our needs. Food 
needed: food furnished. Fuel needed: fuel 
supplied. Immortality coveted: immortality 
an inheritance of which even Satan cannot rob 
us. Rest ardently longed for: "There re- 
maineth a rest to the people of God." Man 
desires wealth as the means of procuring future 
happiness. God enables him to lay up "en- 
during riches and righteousness in heaven" ; 
and his greed for earthly possessions may be 
the perversion of a laudable desire. Have we, 
then, any reason to doubt whether God will 
sing songs in our nights? He can readily fur- 
nish a song. He can teach us to sing. He 
can produce such a measure of cheerfulness 
11 



12 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

as shall prompt us to give expression to our 
joyousness. 

Who giveth songs? God, our Maker. If 
the song is given by him who created the soul, 
who is the Master Musician, who covets its 
music, who proffers us the opportunity of sing- 
ing "the song of Moses and the Lamb," then 
may we be sure that the song will soothe our 
hearts and inspire undying hopes. 

To whom are these songs given? To all 
who are able to say, "God, my Maker." None 
are so despondent that their Maker cannot in- 
spire the spirit which will prompt them to sing. 
None are so girt round by temptation that the 
Almighty cannot give them a song of deliver- 
ance. None have attained such heights of 
goodness that they do not need a song of praise 
to the mercy of God. Songs for all, for those 
of a melancholy temperament and for those of 
a cheerful, for those who are hopeful and for 
those who are despairing, for those who are on 
the hill-top, and for those who are in the val- 
ley. 

"Songs in the night." The sweetness of a 
song is enhanced by the time in which it is 
sung. It has increased inspiration as it comes 
through the stillness and darkness of the night. 
Whispering of a time when life's shadows shall 
be succeeded by noonday, it awakens life, love, 
sympathy and hope. Songs in the night of 



SONGS IN THE NIGHTS 13 

poverty, in the night of failing health, in the 
night of remorse, in the night of affliction, in 
the night produced by the waywardness of 
loved ones — in every night however intense the 
darkness, and however numerous the clouds 
which produce it. 

It ought to be to us a source of joy that 
our Father wears a title so significant, "He 
who giveth songs in the night" ; for nights 
come to all, brief to some, reaching down to the 
grave of others. As the measure of darkness 
which, in the absence of the sun, comes to each 
is dependent upon conditions, so the amount 
of trial which comes to anyone is determined 
in measure by his surroundings. Hence, we 
are not fitted to estimate accurately the poign- 
ancy of the griefs that come to others' hearts. 
There are fountains of anguish upon which our 
eyes are not permitted to gaze. Some springs 
empty their waters through visible channels, 
some through invisible, some have no outlet, 
and their waters become bitter. One conceals 
his grief; another pours his tale of woe into 
every listening ear. 

Each name and each phrase by which our 
Maker is designated produces its own impres- 
sion on the soul. When we think of him as 
The First Cause, The Infinite, The Ultimate 
of all Ultimates, we are filled with awe. When 
we contemplate him as The Just and Holy 



14 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

One, the source of authority, the center of ex- 
cellency, the fountain of goodness, the judge 
before whom all must appear, we are prompted 
to bow at his footstool and exclaim, "God be 
merciful to me a sinner." When we meditate 
upon his eternity, omnipotence, omniscience, 
omnipresence, immutability, we are forced to 
ask, "Who can understand the Almighty unto 
perfection?" If we pause to think of him as 
making provision for man's redemption, as in- 
viting wanderers to accept forgiveness, as 
proffering endless joy without money and 
without price, gratitude is prompted to whis- 
per in accents of prayer, "May Christ dwell 
in our hearts by faith; that we being rooted 
and grounded in love, may be able to compre- 
hend with all saints what is the breadth, and 
length, and depth, and height; and to know 
the love of Christ which passeth knowledge." 
When we regard him as a companion of earth's 
sojourners to the beyond, as lifting up those 
who have fallen by the way, as reviving the 
faint, refreshing the weary and singing songs 
of joy during nights of sorrow, we are swathed 
in emotions which language is incapable of ex- 
pressing. There is no season of perplexity, no 
night of grief, no period of gloom in which 
He is not ready to give needed comfort. 

Are the burdens which poverty entails de- 
pressing the spirits? For this night God has 



SONGS IN THE NIGHTS 15 

given songs. If we were to expunge from the 
Bible the passages which contain comfort for 
the needy we should find the character of the 
book changed to no inconsiderable extent. In- 
deed, abundant is the encouragement given to 
this class of persons. Consequently the Gospel 
has won its greatest triumphs among those who 
were poor in the things of this world, but 
"rich in faith towards God." Nor need we 
marvel at this, for the Saviour addressed them 
with tenderness. Not only in the New Testa- 
ment, but as well in the Old, we find messages 
to the poor. In the 68th Psalm we read, 
"Thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness 
for the poor." It cannot be said that God 
has not provided for the poor till it has been 
proved that all the possible products of the 
soil, judiciously distributed and savingly used, 
are insufficient for the maintenance of all. 

In things spiritual, as well as in things tem- 
poral, God "hath provided of his goodness for 
the poor." In their spiritual welfare Christ 
was interested. To them He spoke with ten- 
derness. In their homes He displayed His 
power. From them He gathered disciples. 
His apostles were fishermen. For the poor it 
is comparatively easy to realize the fact that 
worship is with the heart, not with costly 
raiment and glittering diamonds, not with gold 
and incense, not with ceremonies and genuflec- 



16 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

tions. When the poor man hears God's voice 
demanding homage, he knows that the demand 
means, "Give me thy heart"; for he has little 
or nothing else to give. It is also easier for 
him to cultivate a spirit of dependence upon 
God than it is for those who have tutored 
themselves to rely in all things upon efforts 
of their own. Are we not justified then in 
saying that those who form the purpose of 
becoming religious after they have acquired 
wealth would do well to remember that those 
who are without piety in the season of poverty 
are likely to be destitute thereof in the day 
of prosperity? If he does not covet God's 
presence in the cottage, why should he flatter 
himself that he will implore the forgiveness of 
sin if he is permitted to reside in a mansion? 
He ought to find no difficulty in believing that 
the agriculturist at the plow, the mechanic at 
the bench, the lawyer at the bar, the merchant 
at the counter, and the housekeeper at her 
occupations, may not only grow in the graces 
of the Spirit but are especially well situated 
to exemplify practical Christianity. 

I need do little more than remind you that 
in the night produced by failing health, God 
giveth songs. He who feeds the ravens, clothes 
the lilies, counts the hairs of our heads, and 
notes the falling of a sparrow, will furnish a 
song for those who find the earthly house of 



SONGS IN THE NIGHTS 17 

their tabernacle crumbling to decay. To them, 
the word of the apostle may have special sweet- 
ness, "We know that if our earthly house of 
this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a build- 
ing of God, an house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens." "These light afflic- 
tions which are but for a moment shall work 
out for me a far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory." 

Those who are filled with forebodings in 
reference to the future of human society ought 
to observe the footsteps of God in the history 
of the world. Having done this they ought 
to have no difficulty in believing in human 
progress. The world is working upwards to a 
higher form of civilization. Religion is becom- 
ing more intelligent and more general. It is 
true, disheartenment may temporarily weigh 
down the soul as one gazes upon ignorance, 
superstition, bigotry, cruelty, duplicity and 
unreasonableness. We should bear in mind, 
however, that Christ is risen and his resurrec- 
tion is a pledge of the triumph of truth. To 
Him The Father has said, "I will give thee 
the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utter- 
most parts of the earth for thy possession." 
The sea of human society may continue to heave 
and foam and hiss for centuries to come, but 
He who calmed the waters of Lake Gennesaret 
will quiet its billows in his own time. Wars 



18 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

shall cease. Idols shall crumble to dust. Su- 
perstitions shall perish. Cruelty shall give 
place to kindness. "The wolf shall dwell with 
the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with 
the kid, and the calf and the young lion and 
the fatling together, and a little child shall lead 
them. They shall not hurt or destroy in all 
my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full 
of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters 
cover the sea." 

To such as have a night produced by a sense 
of personal sinfulness, our Father sings songs 
whose sweetness is unparalleled. In Isaiah 
we read, "I will pardon their iniquities:" 
"Come, now, let us reason together, saith the 
Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they 
shall be as white as snow; though they be red 
like crimson, they shall be as wool." So abun- 
dant in Scripture is the testimony to God's 
willingness to forgive sin that the penitent 
ought to have no difficulty in catching the 
notes of pardoning mercy. The Psalmist ex- 
claims, "Bless the Lord O my soul and forget 
not all his benefits: who forgiveth all thine in- 
iquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who re- 
deemeth thy life from destruction ; who crowneth 
thee with lovingness and tender mercies." 
"There is forgiveness with thee that thou mayst 
be feared." 

I need do no more than remind you of the 



SONGS IN THE NIGHTS 19 

Saviour's song of pardoning mercy, "Come unto 
me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and 
I will give you rest." 

In affliction — one of the departments of God's 
training school — the listening ear can catch a 
song which is fitted to produce cheerfulness 
and resignation. Nor will it be difficult to dis- 
cover those who, taught by experience, are 
ready to testify, not only to the sweetness of 
the songs their Maker gives, but to the fact 
that the sweetness is enhanced by drawing near 
the hand that holds the rod. If burdens drive 
us to him, if human enmity induces us to seek 
divine love, if waves of adversity prompt us to 
rest on his bosom, we may succeed in cultivating 
such a measure of resignation as shall enable 
us to thank him for whatever He sends — most, 
perhaps, for the severe. Forth from the fire 
the tried ones come purified, chanting the songs 
taught them in the furnace. A mother, bend- 
ing over her babe and imprinting kisses which 
elicit no answering smile, is heard whispering 
between sobs, "The Lord gave and the Lord 
hath taken away, blessed be the name of the 
Lord:" "It shall not return to me but I shall 
go to it." Or, in an apartment whose stillness 
is oppressive stands one whom we imagined no 
grief could unnerve. Lo ! crushed in spirit, he 
is endeavoring to learn the song which his 
Father is repeating to him, "As thy day thy 



20 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

strength shall be:" "My grace is sufficient for 
thee :" "My strength is made perfect in weak- 
ness:" "These light afflictions . . . shall 
work out a far more exceeding and eternal 
weight of glory:" "If ye suffer with me ye 
shall also reign with me." Experiences of be- 
reavement are so common, however, and songs 
fitted to produce resignation are so numerous, 
and occasions which furnish for them avenues 
to the soul are so many, that I need do no 
more than remind you that no matter how deep 
the gloom of sorrow's night, our Maker can 
furnish comfort. Why then should man be less 
cheerful than the bird which in winter sings its 
carol though its mate lies buried in the snow 
and no crumb is obtainable. May we not sing 
with the Psalmist, "This is my comfort in my 
[present] affliction, that Thy word hath quick- 
ened me" — hath in past afflictions revived my 
spirit. 



Ill 

SUNSHINE, BUT A CLOUD: A CLOUD, 
BUT SUNSHINE 

North of Palestine lies a country, known from 
remote antiquity as Syria. Its most ancient 
and most important city, Damascus, beautiful 
for situation and a highway of commerce, was 
in the center of a fertile valley famed as one 
of the temporary dwelling-places of Abraham 
on his protracted journey from Ur to the land 
of promise ; and one of whose villages, tradition 
says, was the birthplace of his faith in Jehovah. 

At the time wicked Ahab and idolatrous 
Jezebel were occupying the throne of Israel, 
Benhadad II was king in Damascus. Of his 
army Naaman was commander-in-chief, who, if 
the testimony of Josephus is received, acquired 
honorable position as a reward of having slain 
Ahab in his chariot by an arrow sped by a 
"bow drawn at a venture." 

By virtue of the office he held and the mili- 
tary skill he displayed, Naaman's commands 
were obeyed by the army, his influence with 
the monarch was great, his participation in the 
government of the state was flattering to his 
ambition, the reception accorded him in the 
capital was brilliant and the estimate in which 
21 



22 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

he was held throughout the kingdom was such 
as most men would regard — before it was ac- 
quired — as a guarantee of happiness; but he 
was a leper. He was no doubt the possessor 
of riches, his residence a palace. His servants 
may have been obsequious, his children honor- 
able, his wife affectionate, his friends consid- 
erate and the king appreciative of his services ; 
but he was a leper. He had strength of 
character, a strong will, a clear intellect, a 
well-informed mind; and may have been com- 
passionate, forbearing, forgiving, gentle, affec- 
tionate — was certainly liberal; but he had a 
loathsome, incurable disease. He was a great 
man, but neither health nor happiness was per- 
fect. His life was sunshine, but a cloud. 

He might reverse the picture, it is true; and 
by so doing might keep himself from sinking 
into hopeless despondency. He might exclaim, 
"I am a leper; but I am a man mighty in 
valor." His life was a cloud, but sunshine. 

Over every human life, however bright the 
sunshine, a cloud may come. We all covet suc- 
cess, but, being unable to agree wherein success 
consists, we differ in our covetings, some covet- 
ing one thing, some another; some, character; 
some, riches ; some, fame ; some, pleasure ; some, 
ease ; some, health ; some, domestic felicity. No 
one realizes all his ambitions — indeed, some are 
not worth realizing. Whatever may be the 



SUNSHINE BUT A CLOUD 23 

aspiration of each, and however near he may 
come to realizing it, there is always something 
to mar perfection of joy. There are possibili- 
ties of suffering in every physical frame; spots 
weaker than others in the strongest bar of 
steel; the capability of being tarnished in the 
purest silver; the liability of dullness even in 
polished gold — spots on the sun. 

Though a person may have an unimpeach- 
able character, its strength is not such that 
Satan cannot break it down. Throw the largest 
California pine across a chasm and you have 
a bridge capable of sustaining an enormous 
weight. Nevertheless, there are burdens under 
which it will go down as speedily as the reed 
before a tornado. Those who are morally 
strong are not exempt from the injunction, 
"take heed lest ye fall." Whilst some, a 
favored few, may be strong along many lines 
and weak along but few, and others, the ma- 
jority, may be weak along many lines and 
strong along but few, there are none who are 
unconquerable along all lines. The honest man 
may be penurious; the industrious, reckless of 
health; the strong-willed, obstinate; the eco- 
nomical, illiberal; the good-natured, indolent; 
the temperate, censorious ; the just, unmerci- 
ful ; the truthful, uncharitable ; the affectionate, 
passionate. Types of goodness are as various 
and as numerous as are the persons who are 



84 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

capable of possessing moral character. Per- 
fection is something upon which the human eye 
has not yet been permitted to gaze, except in 
the person of Christ. It does not follow, how- 
ever, that we may abandon all effort in the 
formation of Christian character. The painter 
does not produce his best pictures by making 
no effort because he is forced to concede that 
a perfect picture has never been painted. The 
sculptor does not do his best work by doing 
nothing and assigning as a reason, No sculptor 
ever carved a perfect statue. 

Our Master recognized man's inability to at- 
tain perfection, but he also recognized his ca- 
pability of indefinite improvement. He an- 
nounced himself a teacher sent from God, to 
instruct men in character-building. Man's ca- 
pabilities are measureless, and the point at 
which each may arrive during his earthly so- 
journ is determined by (a) The point from 
which he starts, that is, the amount of moral 
power he inherits, race progress being a fact: 
(b) The extent, the constancy and the sin- 
cerity of the effort he puts forth: (c) The 
grace of God in the heart. Is the savage of 
Patagonia capable of improvement? Assuredly. 
Is he likely to become pre-eminent for good- 
ness? No: for he is the victim of moral weak- 
ness inherited from a long line of debased an- 
cestors. May his descendants be brought, in 



SUNSHINE BUT A CLOUD 25 

the lapse of time, to occupy as high a moral 
plane as that on which the Anglo-Saxon now 
stands? Why not? May not each human 
race be brought to say with Paul, "Not as 
though I had already attained, either were al- 
ready perfect, but I follow after, if that I may 
apprehend that for which also I am appre- 
hended of Christ Jesus"? Each is capable of 
indefinite improvement. Religion has the 
power of improving society to an extent greater 
than has yet been effected under the most favor- 
able conditions. 

No perfection: constant progress. Contin- 
uously improving: never reaching the highest 
state possible. Here are two parallel lines run- 
ning eastward, one starting ten feet farther 
westward than the other. Imagine each ex- 
tended eastward indefinitely. Will they not be 
continuously becoming nearer the same length? 
At what point would you be justified in saying, 
They are now exactly the same length? To 
all the moral attainments of human beings there 
may be appended, Excellent, but not perfect. 
It takes but an atom of filth to soil a white 
surface. "Dead flies cause the ointment of the 
apothecary to stink." "Little foxes spoil the 
vines." 

A person attains financial success, but his 
health is gone, or domestic happiness has taken 
its departure, or bereavement has opened a 



26 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

fountain of anguish in his soul. Successful in 
some lines, he is unsuccessful along others. It 
takes but little to render a person miserable. 
It takes much to render some happy. Since it 
needs little to prevent wealth from rendering 
us contented, it seems strange that so many, 
in order to secure it, are ready to sacrifice 
health, comfort, reputation, character, princi- 
ple, conscience and even the hope of happiness 
in the beyond. After acquiring what they 
covet, they may find themselves afflicted with 
a disease worse than that of Naaman — incurable 
selfishness. 

We may regard it as an evidence of the 
goodness of God that He has placed us in a 
state in which happiness is not dependent upon 
the possession of riches. Were it otherwise, 
few could be happy. As it is the majority 
may — Bushmen in Africa, serfs in Russia, 
slaves in Siam, Esquimos in Greenland, Indians 
in Alaska, laborers in coal mines and invalids 
on a bed of pain. God invites and enables 
all to possess riches of character. Do you 
marvel that Christ said, "A man's life con- 
sisteth not in the abundance of the things he 
possesseth." Does the river consist in the 
driftwood it is carrying to the ocean? Fine 
clothes and a fine equipage and a fine residence 
cannot make a merry heart. 

Of those who covet fame, some — a small 



SUNSHINE BUT A CLOUD M 

number — win the prize; but cares increase, re- 
sponsibilities augment, disappointments multi- 
ply and arrows of envy become keener and 
more numerous. Indeed, their unselfishness 
may kindle fires of persecution, and their loy- 
alty to right may be a pledge of future an- 
guish. He who courts public favor courts a 
fickle damsel, one who, disqualified to bestow 
happiness, may flatter littleness and contemn 
greatness. There are few sadder chapters in 
history than those which record the disappoint- 
ments and the reverses of many whom the world 
has pronounced great. Mighty men they were, 
but they were not exempt from trials. Moses 
was a great man, but he was forced to leave 
Egypt and spend forty years in exile; an illus- 
trious legislator, but all Israel murmured 
against him; a good man, but he was not per- 
mitted to enter the land of promise. Elijah 
was a rare specimen of greatness, but Ahab's 
folly and Jezebel's hatred came near driving 
him to suicide. Between fighting for right and 
fleeing from wrath, his earthly journey was 
one that few would covet. Daniel was a great 
man, but for his species of greatness Baby- 
lon's king deemed a lions' den the fittest place. 
Isaiah was a man of exceptional strength of 
character, but Manassah laid him between two 
planks and sawed him in twain. The apostles 
were mighty men of valor, but many of them 



28 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

died martyrs. Socrates was a nobleman of the 
first order, but Xantippe was a thorn in his 
side. 

Such as desire to see the emptiness of human 
greatness should read the biographies of the 
emperors who ruled at Rome and Constanti- 
nople during the decline and fall of the Roman 
Empire. They may be thereby prompted to 
offer the prayer, Permit me to live in obscurity. 
And to some politicians of the present day we 
might say, "Thy god has cast thee off." 
Mighty men — some of them leprous. Was 
Christ giving counsel unworthy of notice when 
He said, "Be humble"? The man who is on 
his back in the cellar can get no lower — one 
advantage. The man on the house-top may 
grow dizzy and, falling, may terminate his ex- 
alted career. Most persons desire to be on the 
mountain-top ; few prefer the valley, though the 
winds are less fierce and the storms less vio- 
lent. For solid comfort the lowly walks of life 
are preferable. Seemingly, Christ so judged, 
for He walked along these ; and, associating with 
the common people, exclaimed, "He that hum- 
bleth himself shall be exalted." Naaman, lofty 
in station, a leper. His servant, the Jewish 
maid captured in war and reduced to slavery, 
probably had quite as much happiness as he. 
It may have taken much less to make her happy. 

How painful the contrasts which life presents. 



SUNSHINE BUT A CLOUD &9 

Here is one who has acquired what he strove 
for, competency. Lo ! his health having failed 
he is incapable of enjoying it. Another is in 
health, but poverty is crushing his spirit. A 
third is pursuing pleasure, but is tortured with 
apprehensions of the consequences. The occu- 
pant of a palace finds himself the target for 
"the flings of domestic infelicity"; whilst his 
neighbor, living in penury, has a measure of 
home- joy which an angel might covet. An- 
other, dwelling in a cozy cottage and the re- 
cipient of the respect of all, is bearing unseen 
burdens and sighing for relief. He to whom 
long life comes finds shadows and loneliness. 
Across the street is one who, nearing the cur- 
tain with pleasing memories of worldly success, 
happy surroundings and a large bank account, 
has no remembrance of communion with God, 
no religious associations and no treasure "laid 
up where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt." 

It is evident that Naaman's case is not pe- 
culiar. Many besides the commander-in-chief 
of the hosts of Syria have had, and many now 
have, a life which may be characterized as sun- 
shine, but a cloud. Many, though happy in 
some respects, are miserable in others. Their 
lives are successful and unsuccessful, cheerful 
and despondent, good and bad, great and con- 
temptible, honorable and despicable. 

Reverse the picture. A cloud, but sunshine. 



30 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

Naaman a leper, but "a mighty man in valor." 
On every human life, however dark the over- 
hanging cloud may be, sunshine may rest. If 
the cloud can cast its shadows on the mountain 
summit, so can the sun dart its rays into the 
valley. If there is no place which trial may 
not enter so neither is there any place which 
joy may not fill. If there are drawbacks in 
life, there are also compensations. Burdens on 
every human heart, and no heart but has occa- 
sion to thank God for blessings. A crook in 
every lot and no crook so tortuous that it may 
not conduct to heaven. Darkness on every 
pathway, and no pathway without sunshine at 
least a part of the time. A burden on every 
life, and no soul that may not thrill with joy. 
It is never so dark that it can be no darker. 
Discouragements are never so many that there 
are no grounds for thankfulness. There are 
no trials without their alleviations. Poverty, 
even though severe, is not an unmixed evil. 
It inspires energy, fosters self-reliance, pro- 
motes humility, increases sympathy, summons 
to exertion, aids in the cultivation of endurance 
and, enhancing the estimate placed on bless- 
ings enjoyed, diminishes the disposition to 
murmur over the absence of blessings whose 
presence was coveted. Ill health has its al- 
leviations. It forces attention to the laws of 
health, and, by consequence, tends, in many in- 



SUNSHINE BUT A CLOUD 31 

stances, to promote longevity. It sweetens the 
disposition by wooing us to hold communion 
with God. It prompts us to attend to the 
interests of the coming life and enables us to 
appreciate its nearness. Bereavements have 
compensations. A blessing seems to accom- 
pany each. Friends are more affectionate. 
God seems nearer, heaven dearer, character 
more valuable, the heart softer, the disposition 
sweeter, faith stronger, religion more precious 
and resignation more commendable. Obscu- 
rity and physical disabilities have advantages. 
Envy shoots fewer arrows at the unknown than 
at the known. Storms beat less violently in 
the secluded nooks than on the peaks of the 
mountain range. There are few storms in the 
valley of the Nile, but the head of the Storm- 
King, Ruwenzori, is shrouded in clouds, 
drenched with rains and swept by winds. The 
deaf are saved from hearing much that is better 
unheard. The blind can see no frowns, detect 
no sneers and be pained by no ugliness. The 
lame are excused from running errands, and 
are commended for movements which would re- 
ceive censure in others. Those who are unable 
to read are saved from a vision of the degrada- 
tion to which a sensational press can descend. 
Those who know nothing of mathematics are 
not called upon to calculate eclipses. Those 
who are incapable of appreciating music are 



32 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

saved from being pained by discords. Those 
who are too cowardly to defend their own 
rights may come to see that they have few 
rights left worth defending. Those who are 
maligned for not giving to the undeserving poor 
may comfort themselves by the remembrance 
that they have something for the deserving 
poor. The man who is not able to make elo- 
quent speeches is not liable to be ruined by 
adulation as many an orator has been. The 
person who is not qualified to make money by 
speculation has occasion to thank God that 
there are other avenues to success, quite as 
honorable and no more hazardous. The prison- 
guard who is too feeble to be appointed guard- 
ian of the condemned criminal who is awaiting 
the day of execution is delivered from hearing 
the pious gush which is dispensed to one who 
never felt one twitch of remorse for his crime 
till he found himself confronting its conse- 
quences. 

It is well to observe that, all things con- 
sidered, each person's lot in life is not as dif- 
ferent from that of others as is often conjec- 
tured. One has more of this and less of that; 
another, more of that and less of this. In 
sources of happiness the difference is not as 
great as it seems. No life is without its foun- 
tain of joy; no life without its stream of bit- 
terness. The mountain has both rocks and 



SUNSHINE BUT A CLOUD 33 

sunshine; the valley floods as well as waving 
harvests. The eye that sheds tears can beam 
love. The feet that tread paths of sorrow 
can stand in God's house. The hearts that 
throb with anguish can thrill with love. The 
spirit that gropes in chambers of despair can 
soar heavenwards in a chariot of hope. 

Let us cultivate the spirit of contentment, 
teaching ourselves to be thankful for the bless- 
ings we have and prizing religion as that which 
ennobles character and sweetens life. 



IV 

OVER-ANXIETY AND ITS CURE 

Why not content ourselves with the mailed 
warriors before us, without peopling space, as 
it stretches into infinity, with ghosts of trouble 
and phantoms of misery and demons dressed 
in blackness and specters with hideous features. 
The antagonists now confronting us are enough. 
To undertake the conquest in one day of all 
the monsters with which fancy can crowd the 
future is to invite discouragement, and almost 
ensure defeat. The lion that is fighting to- 
morrow's imaginary enemies to-day is lessening 
his chance of victory over to-day's antagonist. 
Victories won in the present are the best prepa- 
ration for victories in the future. 

Certainly. But are we to take no thought 
how we shall meet the responsibilities of the 
future? Is the future so dissevered from 
the present that we can afford to ignore it? 
Nay ; to-morrow has its roots in to-day. Man's 
condition in eternity is determined by his con- 
duct in time. Consequently, we are enjoined 
to take thought for each approaching to-mor- 
row. Those who neglect this duty are liable to 
find themselves in an embarrassed condition ere 
they are aware of it. He who, on January 



OVER-ANXIETY AND ITS CURE 35 

first, has no shoes on his feet and no money 
with which to buy them, no bread on his table 
and no table on which to put bread, no bed 
and no house in which to put a bed, will not 
be likely to have what he needs on January 
second by doing nothing but worry on January 
first. The great Teacher recommends fore- 
thought. He enjoins us to sow that we may 
reap, to work that we may have the fruitage, 
to serve God in time that we may have the re- 
ward in eternity. Prudence admonishes us to 
form plans to-day that may yield advantages 
to-morrow. 

Forethought is commendable, but over-anx- 
iety is heart-sickening, energy-destroying, pur- 
pose-killing, happiness-slaying, spirit-crushing. 
"Queen Ann died of thought"; that is, of 
worry; and many a woman, and not a few 
men, have died of the same ailment. 

The subject merits attention, for the disease 
is prevalent. Persons liable to an attack act 
wisely in searching for a remedy. Many are 
gazing on the future to determine, if possible, 
whether their circumstances are to improve or 
to grow worse, whether health is to continue 
or to fail, whether hopes are to be realized 
or to be blasted. To extinguish apprehensions 
is impossible. As God has set the eyes in the 
fore-part of the head we are more inclined to 
look forwards than backwards. We are surely 



36 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

justified in using reason and prudence, gifts 
with which He has endowed us. Why marvel 
then that we are disposed to forecast the future ? 

As each day will have its own anxieties, 
prudence cautions us against borrowing trouble 
from the future, thereby embittering a day 
which might otherwise be j oyous ; against pour- 
ing to-morrow's bitterness into to-day's cup, 
possibly causing it to overflow. 

I. The disease and the causes which produce 
it. 

Over-anxiety, a disordered condition of the 
mental faculties, is liable to attack those who 
are suffering from impaired digestion, nervous 
exhaustion, a lazy liver or an indisposition to 
take sufficient physical exercise. It less fre- 
quently lays its finger on the coachman than 
upon the occupant of the coach. It may stum- 
ble on the Esquimo in his snow-hut, but it is 
more likely to loiter in the palace and rest con- 
tentedly on the couch where the affluent re- 
cline. It is disposed to chase down every am- 
bitious worldling ere it begins to gnaw at the 
hearts of those who live in humble surround- 
ings or chase the deer through mountain-passes. 
Being in large measure a product of over-civ- 
ilization, it rarely troubles the Bushman in his 
mud-hut, though there is no meat in the larder 
and no larder for meat, no money in the pocket 
and no pocket for money, no clothes on the 



OVER-ANXIETY AND ITS CURE 37 

back and no back inured to clothing, no vessel 
in which to wash the face and no face that was 
ever subjected to washing, no comb with which 
to straighten the hair and no hair that was 
ever straightened out, no money in hut or bank 
and no use for money if he had it, no rascal 
who owes him anything except blows and he is 
so fortunate as not to know how many of those 
are overdue, and his enemy is in the same di- 
lemma, for neither can count more than four, 
the intellect becoming confused when that in- 
comprehensible number is reached. Still, he is 
almost invariably cheerful. His home is so 
humble that worry can scarcely succeed in find- 
ing it ere she herself is worried into disgust; 
and when discovered, she finds the atmosphere 
so uncongenial and the food on which she 
feeds so scanty that she soon departs without 
ceremony. She rarely fails, however, in find- 
ing the home of the nervous, restless, ambitious, 
wealth-seeking, pleasure-loving, conscience- 
deadening, nerve-destroying, brain-tortured 
Anglo-Saxon. On him she settles down and 
becomes a parasite, fattening on his happiness. 
As over-anxiety is a disease to which the 
civilized portion of the human family is more 
exposed than the uncivilized, it would seem that 
the attainment of that for which we are worry- 
ing aggravates the disease, increased gains fan- 
ning the flames of unsatisfied desire. Those 



38 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

in the focus of the over-strained civilization of 
the age need an abiding faith in God, such a 
measure of trustfulness as shall enable them to 
believe that He who clothes the lilies of the 
valley will clothe them; that He who feeds the 
ravens will not permit those made in his image 
to die of want; that He who furnishes a home 
for the cricket in the hearth will not leave in- 
dustry and prudence houseless ; that He who 
says to the waves, "Be still," will stay the heart 
that trusts in him; that He who is continually 
bringing good out of evil can sweeten the 
Marahs at which we are languishing and will 
do so ere we perish for want of sweetened 
waters. The need of the age is Faith in God, 
more Faith still, a Faith that shall transform 
anxieties into cheerfulness. 

As consumption has its causes, so corroding 
anxiety has its causes. Of the many, we may 
indicate a few: mistaken conceptions in refer- 
ence to the character of the dispensation under 
which we are placed, which induces us to im- 
agine that we may lessen the trials of life by 
worrying over them; insatiate ambition, which 
is never content with present attainments as 
long as any fancied good is beyond reach; 
chronic nervousness in reference to the outcome 
of each new project; an indisposition to do the 
best that seems possible and leave consequences 
with God; an unwillingness to cease worrying 



OVER-ANXIETY AND ITS CURE 39 

over what can be remedied and setting to work 
to remedy it; reluctance to accept what cannot 
be remedied and to make the best of it; blind- 
ness to the fact that over-anxiety, like over- 
eating, disqualifies for work; last, not least, 
want of resignation to the will of Him who 
foreordains whatsoever comes to pass. 

In consequence of the progress made in de- 
termining the causes of disease, we are begin- 
ning to catch glimpses of the day when medical 
science shall achieve its greatest triumphs, not 
so much in healing diseases as in teaching peo- 
ple how to prevent the germs of disease from 
finding a lodgement in the human system. May 
the day soon dawn when we shall learn to re- 
move the causes which are liable to produce 
over-anxiety. 

Reader, it may be that you are peering into 
the future, trembling with anxiety and almost 
paralyzed with fear. Notwithstanding all your 
worriment, its successive days will drop at your 
feet like diamonds from the necklace of a queen 
when the string is broken. As in imagination 
you gaze upon each you see dark surfaces as 
well as bright. In a spasm of anxiety you ex- 
claim: Which side will be turned towards 
me? Immediately you begin so to place your- 
self that the dazzling side of each may be 
turned towards you. You plan. You worry. 
You fret. Nevertheless, each jewel will drop 



40 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

as causes beyond your control may determine. 
Some days will be sunny, some cloudy, some 
joyous, some sad. Be resigned. God rules. 
The Saviour will be merciful no matter how 
gloomy the day may be. There will be 
friends that love, and friends to love. Heaven 
will be no farther distant because the day is 
enveloped in clouds. Innocent children will be 
sporting and hoping, be the day what it may. 
No worry of yours can render a day cloudless ; 
and if it could, are you sure uninterrupted 
sunshine would prove a blessing? 

Like other diseases, corroding anxiety is li- 
able to become chronic if left in unrestrained 
activity. He who makes no effort to resist 
its ravages becomes its victim. Indeed, like 
the occupant of a dungeon, he may come to love 
darkness. He may regard himself as not 
happy unless he is miserable. He may derive 
pleasure in telling his tale of woe to listening 
ears. For the cure of such cases, resignation 
to the divine will must needs take the place of 
rebellion. Contentment must pitch its tent 
upon the ruins of grumbling. Pessimism must 
give place to optimism. The frenzied desire 
to have everything as selfishness pronounces 
best must be displaced by a willingness to do 
duty and rest content with its rewards. 

Confessedly, the cure of this disease is some- 
times exceedingly difficult, because the causes 



OVER-ANXIETY AND ITS CURE 41 

are not infrequently constitutional. In such 
cases the seeds of anxiety find a congenial soil, 
and great praise is due to those who are able 
to eradicate them. On the other hand, the per- 
son who inherited a spirit of cheerfulness is not 
entitled to special commendation because he 
does not worry. He was born not to fret. 
Why, therefore, should he boast of his ability 
to maintain cheerfulness? Content with being 
permitted to come to this sublunary sphere, 
rocked in the cradle of No-Worry, fed on the 
bread of trustfulness, instructed from infancy 
in the duty of thanking God for sunshine and 
trusting Him in storms, he finds it compara- 
tively easy to obey the Saviour's injunction. 
But those less fortunate persons whose tele- 
scopic eyes are peering into the future, 
bringing its difficulties near and magnifying 
them enormously — imaginations lively, brain 
fevered, nerves sensitive, fears potent, aspira- 
tions ardent, ambitions towering, restlessness 
incurable — how shall they tutor themselves to 
obey this command? They need to be working 
at the business incessantly, and even then the 
victory is not likely to be conspicuous. 
Blessed are they who, imbibing the spirit of 
the Master and accepting God as Father, re- 
ceive the allotments of life without murmuring. 
They are aided in securing health, happiness 
and success ; yes, even heaven is easier won. 



42 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

II. The remedy and the sources whence it 
is obtained. 

It is reasonable to suppose that a remedy 
exists, for there are remedies for most of the 
ills that afflict us — remedies for scarlet-fever, 
for small-pox, for diphtheria, for head-ache, 
for tooth-ache, for weak eyes, for palpitat- 
ing hearts. Why not then for heart-aches? 
There are; and the following is worthy of a 
trial : 

A heartful of faith, saturated in the spirit 
of resignation, filtered into the goblet of self- 
control, sweetened with the extract of small 
expectations, flavored with the essence of hope, 
steeped in the chalice of humility, kept sim- 
mering over the fires of devotion to God — to be 
taken in liberal doses daily, prescription re- 
newed weekly at the Sabbath service. 

Faith will strengthen the soul in trusting 
God's mercy, producing the conviction that He 
is interested in us, cares for us, is willing to 
lift the spirit upwards toward Himself, en- 
abling us to regard the realization of our 
cherished hopes as less valuable than the bene- 
fits which discipline confers. Resignation will 
soothe the twitchings of the discontented heart, 
prompting the exclamation, "It is the Lord, let 
him do what seemeth him good": "Undertake 
thou for me; hold thou me up and I shall be 
safe" — safe for time and safe for eternity: 



OVER-ANXIETY AND ITS CURE 43 

"His will, not mine be done." Resigned, the 
patient shall be able to see that he is short- 
sighted, his Father all-wise; he feeble, his pro- 
tector omnipotent. Self-control will tend to 
open his eyes to the fact that worry lessens 
the chances of success, energy being consumed 
and the power of endurance being diminished; 
that an efficient way of augmenting future 
worry is the indulgence of apprehensions in the 
present instead of doing what judgment dic- 
tates and calmly awaiting the issue. Small ex- 
pectations are an essential ingredient in the 
remedy, for most of us expect too much. 
Better expect little and disappointment is not 
liable to be ours. If more comes than we an- 
ticipate, we shall have ground for joyousness. 
When Elijah was expecting nothing and was 
ready to bequeath the same, less or more, to his 
successor — sheep-skin coat included — the food 
furnished him by ravens and as well the cakes 
subsequently baked on coals refreshed his 
spirit. If he had been expecting great things 
he might have contemned what saved his life. 
Expecting little, he was not disappointed, and 
found the little enough. Instead of murmur- 
ing, he took courage and endeavored to weave 
a hopeful future out of a disheartening present. 
Hope, as an ingredient in the remedy, makes 
the pulse beat more vigorously, imparts luster 
to the eye, clearness to the intellect, strength 



44 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

to the limb, skill to the hand, energy to the 
will and buoyancy to the spirits. Humility 
enables us to see how much more we receive 
than we merit, how liberal God is and how 
many sacrifices friends make for us. It 
prompts the patient to observe that we have 
more cause for gratitude than for complaint. 
To a sense of unworthiness add devotion to 
God and over-anxiety shall have some difficulty 
in thrusting its arrows into the soul. The 
ship whose anchor is fixed in the rocks is held 
securely though storms rage, winds howl, waves 
foam and whirlpools hiss. The heart that is 
anchored in God is able to outride the storms 
of life. The remedy is most beneficial when 
it is taken fresh from the sanctuary each 
Lord's day. 

We betake ourselves to a more congenial 
phase of the subject, the source of the remedy, 
"religion, pure and undefiled." Though hu- 
man persistency has accomplished much, it has 
never discovered any remedy for worry. In its 
exhaustive search of the mineral kingdom it has 
discovered invaluable remedies ; nothing, how- 
ever, that will cure corroding anxiety. It has 
investigated, stewed and boiled nearly every 
vegetable found in the lands inhabited by man, 
but it has discovered no medicine that cures 
worriment. It has practiced vivisection on 
most of the domestic animals, and on some that 



OVER-ANXIETY AND ITS CURE 45 

roam in the wilderness, but it has found no 
means of curing over-anxiety. It has ran- 
sacked every speculation launched upon the sea 
of human life, but it has found no recipe for 
heart-ache. Religion has furnished the only 
remedy, and hers sometimes fails, because taken 
too seldom or in homeopathic doses or mixed 
in concentrated worldliness. Taken often and 
in unadulterated form it is an infallible remedy. 
Many are able to furnish testimonials of com- 
plete cure; and others testify to having re- 
ceived no small measure of relief. 

III. The application of the remedy and the 
cautions which should follow. 

The remedy should be taken, not laid away 
to be looked at on Sabbaths ; taken, not as a 
nauseous dose which it is an evidence of brav- 
ery to swallow without wincing, but good- 
naturedly and in the expectation that it will be 
helpful. With every symptom of a return of 
the disease a second dose should be taken, the 
eyes being turned away, meanwhile, from 
earthly trifles, and the tongue silenced lest by 
pouring grievances into open ears it may ex- 
ercise anxiety into a new and more vigorous 
life. 

After taking the remedy it is hazardous to 
allow selfishness to be conjecturing what ought 
to happen in the future. It is also injudicious 
to be spending time in traveling backwards over 



46 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

the roads on which we stumbled, counting the 
stones marked by our bleeding feet, viewing the 
spots where we were worsted, noting the sloughs 
of despond into which we fell, setting up memo- 
rials where we shed tears and examining the 
precipices over which we fell into dejection. 
Better look thankfully on the past, hopefully 
towards the future, cheerfully towards men and 
trustfully towards God — not too confidently on 
what we hope may be ours, not too indignantly 
on what we fear may come our way. We 
should also be careful not to be casting fuel on 
the flames of envy; it may render anxiety red- 
hot. 

May each learn in experience how much of 
comfort comes in heeding the Saviour's injunc- 
tion. May it be our fortune to allow no more 
trouble to come into to-day than belongs 
therein. 

The future is before us. From behind its 
curtain may happiness come to each. May 
anxieties come with laggard footsteps and de- 
part on nimble feet. May each find religion a 
comfort in the walks of life and a support 
when life's journey nears its end. May we 
each learn that Christ's religion is more than 
pardon of sin, that it is a rock on which we may 
rest when the billows are rolling, that it is a 
refuge to which we may flee when the storm is 



OVER-ANXIETY AND ITS CURE 47 

raging, that it is the pathway of the Great 
King, fragrant with the sweetness of new-blown 
roses and strewed with crowns of glory — sun- 
shine, joy, hope, inspiration. 



GOD'S INTEREST IN US 

The full import of the word by which we 
designate the First Cause — the Ultimate of all 
ultimates — is to us incomprehensible — neces- 
sarily so. Believing Him omnipresent, omnis- 
cient, omnipotent, unconditioned, eternal, we 
do not claim to be able to grasp the full mean- 
ing of the terms. Consequently, when we con- 
sider the extent of His sway — over individuals, 
communities, nations, worlds, and systems of 
worlds ; and as well when we contemplate His 
eternal self-existence, we are forced to concede 
that a being whose intellectual powers are 
limited cannot understand "The Uncondi- 
tioned" unto perfection. 

Indeed, as long as we are constrained to ac- 
knowledge ourselves incapable of appreciating 
the duration of periods connected with human 
events — the time that has elapsed since the 
foundations of Babylon were laid, since the 
earliest of the pyramids were constructed, since 
Troy was in its infancy; and until we are able 
to comprehend the varied and complicated in- 
terests of an empire such as anciently existed 
on the banks of the Nile, and are competent to 
the formation of a reasonably accurate concep- 
48 



GOD'S INTEREST IN US 49 

tion of the events which have occurred since 
man became a tenant of the earth, why should 
we imagine that we might come to a full 
realization of the greatness of Him whose gov- 
ernment, during the cycles of unending dura- 
tion, extends without conditions alike over the 
little and the great? 

It is difficult, confessedly so, to believe that 
He who rules a universe should condescend to 
concern Himself in the trifles that make up our 
lives. So immeasurable is the contrast between 
His greatness and our insignificance that in 
contemplating the former we are tempted to 
conclude that He does not deign to note our 
trials; and when we consider the latter, we find 
ourselves nearly incapable of appreciating 
His greatness. Why, we ask, should He 
interest Himself in the struggles, the de- 
spondencies, the disappointments, the fears, 
the hopes and the sorrows of a being whose 
life is but one cast of a swiftly moving 
shuttle ? 

What, we inquire, could induce inconceivable 
greatness to manifest concern for an existence 
which is but one atom "in the dust of the 
balance"; and whose tears are but drops from 
the surging stream of sorrow? 

Will He dry the mourner's tear? Will He 
vindicate the honor of helpless innocency? 
Will He impart strength to those who, with 



50 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

trembling steps, are trying to tread the paths 
of uprightness? Ah! and will He pause to im- 
part courage to those who have fallen by the 
wayside ? 

Subdued into adoring wonder as we behold 
suns of transcendent brilliancy whirled by a 
hand all powerful along measureless pathways, 
presumably accompanied by worlds tenanted 
with sentient beings, we are disposed to ask, 
Is it less difficult to imagine that He who guides 
Arcturus will note man's trials than it is to 
conclude that the ocean makes record of each 
ripple that dies on its shore? Does the earth 
stay in its course to number the seeds that 
perish or count the blades of grass that wither 
on its bosom? Does the sun send forth spe- 
cial rays to kiss the grave of the insect whose 
life continued but an hour? 

However difficult it may be to conceive that 
God has interest in man, living faith — "the 
evidence of things not seen" — enables us to be- 
lieve that our Father cares for us, guides us, 
strengthens us, comforts us. "Lord, I believe, 
help thou mine unbelief." 

Nor is it impossible to present evidence that 
our faith rests on an enduring foundation. 

Why may not God's greatness be regarded 
as a basis on which to rest our hope of secur- 
ing His interest, His care, His love? As a 
means of strengthening this conviction it may 



GOD'S INTEREST IN US 51 

be well to note in brief what has been done in 
our behalf. 

Our Father; — who by cosmic forces evolved 
a dwelling place for us out of previously 
created matter; who caused the earth to bring 
forth vegetable products, by which was pre- 
pared a soil suited to man's cultivation; who 
deposited in earth's strata almost inexhaustible 
treasures for man's enrichment — coal, silver, 
gold, diamonds ; who clothed matter with forces 
which the human intellect might learn to har- 
ness for service and even for pleasure; who 
endowed man with reason, conscience, affec- 
tions and a superintending will, crowning this 
last precious gift with freedom; who made, 
through holy men of old, a revelation of His 
purposes of mercy and by so doing kept alive 
the dimmed embers of devotion century after 
century; who in His word appealed to the con- 
sciences of men, greatly honoring human na- 
ture by exhibiting marvelous interest in man's 
welfare both in this life and in that beyond the 
veil; who sacrificed His Son in order to win 
back alienated affection: who gave His Spirit 
to bear testimony to the soul of man of divine 
love and so secure a return of affection; who 
established in human society the home, the 
church and the state, three fruitful sources of 
happiness — He, our Father, in so highly re- 
specting, exalting and enriching us, has enabled 



52 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

us to believe that it is in harmony with His 
nature to manifest care over us, interest in us 
and love for us. 

Following these and similar lines of reason- 
ing we are warranted, I apprehend, in regard- 
ing the bewildering greatness of our Father as 
a guarantee of divine care rather than as a 
barrier thereto or a hindrance to belief therein. 
Indeed, since The Word furnishes promises 
which were designed to sustain the hearts of 
the despondent ones and to dry the tears of 
the sorrowing, we may regard His greatness 
as directly concerned in the fulfillment of these 
covenants of kindness. For, quite manifestly 
the mere presence on the sacred page of ad- 
monitions to accept guidance and comfort in 
our trials, reverses, fears and sorrows can in 
no way be regarded as an expression of empty 
sympathy, but must be considered an assur- 
ance, guaranteed by Almightiness, that if con- 
ditions are complied with the gifts specified 
will be conferred. Instead of being, as some 
seem to imagine, a barrier to the bestowment 
of favors, it is in fact a guarantee. In like 
manner the stability of the laws of nature, 
rendering it certain that food, air, sunshine and 
bodily exercise have potency in extending life, 
is evidence that Majestic greatness — under 
ascertainable conditions — is a species of guaran- 



GOD'S INTEREST IN US 53 

tee to continued life and a certain measure of 
comfort. 

In endowing us with a powerful and nearly 
ineradicable inclination to become, and to con- 
tinue, interested in our children — in their phys- 
ical, moral, social, intellectual and spiritual 
welfare — our Father has rendered it compara- 
tively easy for us to believe that He, in the full- 
ness of his personality and in the entire orbit 
of His incommunicable attributes, is concerned 
in the welfare of those whom the Christ has 
encouraged us to regard as children of Him 
whom we may address as Father. 

As deism has been relegated to the receptacle 
of worn-out theories we no longer believe that 
an omnipotent personality, having created the 
world, retired within the veiled chambers of 
eternity, leaving the complicated machinery of 
a measureless universe to run its fated courses 
and tell of its destined changes. Consequently, 
there are comparatively few who are disposed 
to permit a conviction of divine greatness to 
annihilate belief in providential care. 

They see no incompatibility between limit- 
less greatness and tender interest in the sen- 
tient beings called into existence by almighty 
power. They prefer to regard each as evi- 
dencing the existence of the other. 

Consequently, instead of imagining that the 



54f "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

greatness of the Creator renders it probable 
that a hand divine leaves untouched all, or 
nearly all, the affairs of man as too insignifi- 
cant for notice, we are warranted, I conjecture, 
in saying that greatness ensures interest in 
what greatness produces, however insignificant 
the thing or person produced may be. As- 
suredly, nothing that a personal being, perfect 
in all respects, chooses to call into existence 
either is or can be too little for his subsequent 
care. 

It is nearly impossible to conceive of great- 
ness which is indifferent to the many littles 
which make greatness. Accordingly it will be 
found somewhat difficult to discover any human 
being who, indifferent to details, succeeded in 
acquiring what the world denominates great- 
ness. On the other hand it is easy to find in 
history examples of men whose greatness con- 
sisted to a large extent, and was in part con- 
sequent on, careful attention to trivial details 
incident to the accomplishment of large results. 
And these are they whose names are found in 
Fame's great temple. 

The reputation of Thothmes III rests, not 
solely, nor even mainly, on his conquests, nor 
upon the monuments he erected on the banks 
of the Nile, but far more upon the pains he 
displayed in learning the details of military 



GOD'S INTEREST IN US 55 

operations and in supplying the needs of those 
whom he ruled. 

The greatness of Augustus consisted chiefly 
in the fact that he studied most assiduously the 
needs of the common people and by enacting 
wise laws guarded the rights of humble citizens, 
thereby augmenting the sum of human happi- 
ness. 

The greatness of Queen Elizabeth was se- 
cured not so much by a series of great acts 
as by attention to many seemingly almost in- 
significant matters, which were connected, how- 
ever, with the peace, prosperity, renown and 
greatness of a nation during the most illustri- 
ous period of its history. The eminence to 
which Abraham Lincoln attained was due, quite 
certainly in part to the fact that he sympa- 
thized with the bereaved, shed tears with weep- 
ing mothers, freed the slaves by the throb of 
his great heart, bore on his face the evidence 
of profound interest in the unity of the nation, 
and gave to the world the tribute of a loving 
heart in honor of the nation's heroes. 

Attention to things apparently insignificant 
often produces momentous results. Conse- 
quently, he who wisely manages details secures 
more substantial results than they who, build- 
ing castles in the air wait for greatness to be 
thrust upon them by the mailed hand of inex- 



56 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

orable fate. In all ages, and pre-eminently 
since the advent of Christ, foremost thinkers 
have regarded sympathy with the troubled, in- 
terest in the unfortunate, charity towards the 
poor and self-sacrifice in behalf of worthy 
though unpopular causes as in a commendable 
degree characteristic of true greatness. 

May we not, therefore, regard it as an evi- 
dence of greatness that our Sovereign cares 
for our wants, hears the cry of the raven, 
clothes the lilies of the valley, notes the falling 
of a sparrow and extracts pangs from the 
hearts of the anguishful? 

As nothing can happen to us except by di- 
vine permission, and as we believe in the tender 
mercy of Him whose "gentleness makes us 
great," why consider the testings of our faith 
by bereavements as neither permitted by our 
Father nor in any way connected with our en- 
during happiness? And if the spirit of 
motherliness is helpful in enabling us to bear 
trials without murmuring, why regard it as too 
insignificant to merit display by Him who 
"numbers the hairs of the head." 

Emotions of gratitude thrill every nerve of 
our being when in the depths of a throbbing 
heart we have succeeded in fully realizing the 
fact that He before whom "all the nations of 
the earth are as nothing" stoops to lift up the 
fallen, proffers spiritual sight to blinded eyes, 



GOD'S INTEREST IN US 57 

extends a helping hand to the feeble, gives 
songs in nights of sorrow; and enfolding His 
sheep in His love, as a shepherd places the 
bleating lamb in his bosom, conveys them to a 
mansion in the city which sin, suffering, sor- 
row and death are not permitted to enter. 

When we come to appreciate the fact that He 
who guides millions of suns in the fields of im- 
mensity is He who, permitting griefs to embit- 
ter our lives, wipes away our tears and prof- 
fers guidance to a home celestial, we adoringly 
exclaim, "Unto Him be glory for his mercy." 
There is no fluttering pulse, no feeble step, no 
weakened courage, no languishing heart which 
His omnipotent power cannot strengthen. 

Remembering that our Father is omniscient, 
we ought not to discover difficulty in believing 
that He who is "acquainted with all our ways" 
can give needed counsel, fitted to make us "wise 
unto Salvation" — unto deliverance from worry 
and fear, temptation and grief, disheartenment 
and unbelief. 

Strengthened by unconquerable faith in the 
omnipresence of God, we ought to be prompted 
to believe that even though we were occupants 
of a worn-out world on the confines of non- 
entity we should still be recipients of His 
bounty, partakers of the comforts He bestows, 
objects of his care, and participants in His 
mercy. Yea, might be prompted to feel that 



58 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

we were hourly subject to His laws, ennobled by 
conceptions of His greatness, humbled by a 
sense of sin and pavilioned by His love. 

Conceding that immutability is an inference 
from Almighty power and unerring wisdom, we 
may readily believe that the divine purposes 
span not only the years of our brief lives, nor 
simply the period of a nation's existence, nay, 
not even the millenniums through which suns 
retain light and power, but extend from ever- 
lasting to everlasting; and that by consequence 
there is in reality nothing little — what we call 
littles being only necessary parts of one great 
whole. 

Why should we find it an arduous task to 
conclude that whatever one's occupation in life 
may be — that of merchant harassed with cares, 
of physician under the strain of anxiety, of 
laborer burdened with trouble and bewildered 
by conflicting impulses, of moral and religious 
teacher weighted with responsibilities, of a 
father distracted by the conduct of children — 
he may believe that God's hand holds him, His 
bounty will feed him, His mercy enswathes him 
and divine love encircles him? 



VI 

RESTLESSNESS— RESTFULNESS 

As the heart of man was in creation fitted for 
a home with its Maker, it is, until it finds re- 
pose in Him, "like the troubled sea, which 
can not rest, whose waters cast up mire and 
filth." The disappointed assert, "Vanity of 
vanities, all is vanity." The harassed exclaim, 
"Oh, that I had wings like a dove, for then 
would I fly away and be at rest." The trust- 
ful exclaim, "There is laid up for me a crown 
of righteousness." The hopeful affirm, "There 
remaineth a rest." Restlessness in this world — 
restfulness in the world to come. Warfare in 
this life — peace in a life beyond. 

The theme is one that is of interest to all, for, 
each — many aspirations having ended in disap- 
pointment — is tempted to declare, "Emptiness 
in the present, fullness in the sweet by and by." 
Even such as have attained the prizes they 
struggled for are disposed to covet escape 
from bufferings which stifle the growth of new- 
born hopes. They exclaim, "Now, incessant 
toil ; in the hereafter, rest." For quietude, not 
a few are almost ready to betake themselves any- 
whither, even into a wilderness. On the walls 
of the nursery we find the motto, "Rest in 

59; 



60 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

heaven." On the margin of the ledger we 
read: "In heaven no worry over unpaid ac- 
counts." The wearied wife, with eyes suffused 
in tears, is conning the words, "The Lord is my 
refuge and strength, a very present help in 
time of trouble." The laborer, as he wends 
his way homeward, represses a sigh by contem- 
plating the repose that awaits the ransomed of 
the Lord. 

There is one class, it must be conceded, to 
whom thoughts such as these come with less 
force than to others, the young. They are 
less fitted to appreciate what is said in refer- 
ence to the restlessness of human life because 
they are entering the currents that flow into 
the heaving ocean, and are enjoying the excite- 
ment. They do not expect their ambitions to 
miscarry. They are soaring on wings of hope 
and have no fear that their pinions will be 
plucked by the hand of adversity. They are 
the witnesses of unrest everywhere, but they do 
not sigh for deliverance therefrom. They 
find pleasure in endeavors to mount above it. 
Consequently, whatever is said in reference to 
the unsatisfactory character of earth's strug- 
gles and the emptiness of its rewards is liable 
to fail in securing attention. Who is dis- 
posed to wish that it might be otherwise? Who 
would snatch sweetness from hearts that will 
know bitterness soon enough? Endowed with 



RESTLESSNESS— RESTFULNESS 61 

energy, fitted for toil, ready to meet difficulties, 
possessing faith in human nature and prepared 
to rely upon their own efforts, they count on 
reaching the goal of their aspirations. Hence, 
far from desiring to fly away and be at rest 
they are anxious to leap into the vortex of the 
whirlpool. They hope to issue thence loaded 
with the fruits of manly exertion. Is any one 
disposed to rob them of hopes which may enable 
them to win triumphs, to gather experiences, 
to ennoble existence, to recognize the fact that 
earth's highest happiness consists in fulfilling 
obligations to God and to man? If David, 
when a shepherd-lad, had felt as he did when 
he had acquired wealth, fame, power, and a 
royal palace, he might have accomplished lit- 
tle either for himself or for the Jewish nation. 
The hardships of life are often stepping- 
stones to success. 

The history of the past furnishes evidence 
that the conditions of life do not greatly alter 
as the centuries go by. David's exclamation, 
wrung from a wearied heart, still suits the 
children of men. Since the words were spoken 
many changes have occurred. The Jews have 
been scattered throughout the earth. The 
Roman Empire has crumbled to pieces. Ger- 
many has emerged from savagery. The hordes 
of Northern Asia, pouring through the fast- 
nesses of the Alps, have crushed nationalities 



62 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

on the shores of the Mediterranean. Moham- 
medanism, born in fanaticism and fanned into 
power by lust of rule, has had its conquests, 
its glory, its defeats and much of its decrepi- 
tude — fit for burial and no one prepared to 
furnish it a grave. The Christian Religion, 
born in Bethlehem and heralded by humble 
fishermen, has won conquests alike in the hovel 
of the poor and in the palace of the rich till 
under her influence Paganism has been crip- 
pled and civilized nations are vying with each 
other in proclaiming the value of Christianity; 
has broken the fetters of superstition engrafted 
upon it from heathenism and is again distilling 
blessings, elevating society to a nobler plane. 
When these words were written not only North 
and South America, but old England in meas- 
ure, were unknown to the east, their inhabitants 
barbarians. Innumerable, however, as have 
been the changes which have passed over so- 
ciety, the heart of man has not changed. The 
desire for rest still remains. Man's aspirations 
have not radically altered. His disappoint- 
ments are neither fewer nor less bitter. Weari- 
ness still weighs on his spirits. Indeed, if in 
the matter of worry there has been any change, 
it has seemingly been from great worry to 
greater. In this age, as in David's, men may 
be tempted to covet wings, by which to escape 
from the succession of toils, harassments and 



RESTLESSNESS— RESTFULNESS 63 

vanities. Some might be disposed to betake 
themselves to the wilderness if convinced that 
the change would bring satisfaction. The 
wigwam as a home and skins for clothing 
would be welcome, perhaps, if they could fur- 
nish rest. 

I do not need to remind you that it is a rest- 
less age in which we are living. The machinery 
of modern society is driven by steam and 
electricity. Our jaded limbs and throbbing 
hearts are scarcely able to keep up with the 
wheels of Anglo-Saxon activity. The effort to 
satisfy the fictitious wants of an over-wrought 
civilization is grinding away the lives of many, 
who seem incapable of lifting their spirits into 
calmness. Modern society proffers little re- 
pose this side the grave; and yet it is rest that 
all are seeking, that all are fighting for, that 
all are destroying in the effort to acquire. 
They are hoping, however, to secure it by and 
by. Are they seeking it where it may be 
found? Are we prepared to concede that it is 
not furnished by the things of sense? Christ 
says, "I will give you rest." When we have 
taught ourselves that "contentment with godli- 
ness is great gain," the love of the world, 
which lashes its victims without mercy, will have 
lost its power. It will be incapable of driving 
us "from ills we have to others that we know 
not of." Convinced that it can not bring us 



64 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

rest, we may be disposed to seek repose on 
the bosom of God. Alas, we are tempted to 
fancy that at some time and in some place the 
world can furnish us what we covet! Cares 
have pressed upon us, disappointments have 
overtaken us, anxieties have rent our hearts, 
bereavements have lacerated our affections, de- 
parted joys have left us in despondency and 
unrealized hopes have paralyzed energy ; never- 
theless we persist in conjecturing that there 
must be some time, some place, some circum- 
stances, in which the soul may find satisfaction 
in the things of sense. Instead of seeking it in 
Christ, we imagine we may yet discover it hid- 
den somewhere amid the world's treasures. 
We are set on entertaining the fancy that days 
are coming in which trials will be fewer and 
less perplexing, cares less numerous and less 
onerous, disappointments less frequent and less 
stinging. Such may be the case, though the 
hope may prove delusive. Are we likely to have 
all we covet? If so, are we hastening its con- 
summation in the future by worrying in the 
present? When able to feel that as God made 
the soul for Himself it can find rest only in 
Him ; that as all that comes to us is sent by Him 
we should teach ourselves to say, "Thy will, 
not mine," we shall not need to sigh for the 
wings of a dove that we may fly away and be 
at rest. We shall be resting in God. Freed 



RESTLESSNESS— RESTFULNESS 65 

from bondage to the things of sense, we shall 
be introduced "into the glorious liberty of the 
children of God." 

The wheels of this restlessness are driven by 
our own insatiate desires. We covet riches, 
grasping after them in the expectation that they 
will render us contented. We have no diffi- 
culty in seeing that they do not bring repose 
to others, but more cares, more worries, more 
disappointment, more anxieties and more op- 
portunities of being wronged. Nevertheless, 
unmindful of the fact that happiness rears its 
envied palace in the heart and not upon pe- 
cuniary possessions, that contentment loves to 
dwell along the humble avenues of life, that 
there are fewer tempests in the valley than on 
the mountain-top, that more joys circle around 
cottages than around palaces — unmindful of 
such facts as these, we conjecture that happi- 
ness would be ours if the full horn of plenty was 
poured upon us. Others are grasping after in- 
fluence or fame. The testimony of the favored 
few to the effect that these are short-lived and 
unsatisfactory fails in destroying the delusion. 
Though David from a throne exclaims, "Oh, for 
wings," they fancy that in their hands the prizes 
would prove sources of happiness. Though 
profane history has furnished long lists of those 
who in acquiring station have parted with hap- 
piness, still there are not a few who insist that 



66 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

if they could only reach those dizzy heights 
they would be content. To attain their ob- 
ject they sacrifice ease, health, principle, con- 
science — everything worth possessing — in order 
that they may clutch a bubble. If acquired, 
will it bring rest? It may arouse envy, pro- 
duce heart-burnings, increase perplexities and 
impose responsibilities. Two Roman emper- 
ors, one in the east and one in the west, re- 
signed their thrones on the same day by 
mutual agreement, and retired to private life. 
One, being discontented, wrote to the other, 
recommending a resumption of regal authority. 
In response he received this, "Come see the cab- 
bages I have raised at Silonica with my own 
hands, and you will cease to covet the empty 
honors and the rasping cares that embitter the 
life of an emperor." Many aspirants to fame 
discover, on reaching the summit of ambition, 
that they have only become a target for the ar- 
rows of malignity. Oh, that some orator could 
persuade the American people that piety dis- 
played in the humble walks of life is an efficient 
instrumentality in securing contentment! He 
who "seeks first the kingdom of heaven" will 
find those things added which conduce to happi- 
ness. The aids to its possession — health, oc- 
cupation, home-comforts, practical religion and 
the hope of heaven — are nearer the humble 
dwelling than they are to the throne; and its 



RESTLESSNESS— RESTFULNESS 67 

foes — idleness, jealousy, envy, ambition, self- 
indulgence — are more remote. The sleepless 
pillow is not so likely to be on the bed which re- 
ceives the frame wearied with toil as it is to be 
upon the couch on which he tosses whose nerves 
have been subjected to tension under anxieties. 
It was not David caring for his father's flocks 
on Bethlehem's plain, but David on a throne 
who coveted solitude till life's calamities were 
past. When humble, poor and inconspicu- 
ous, he was cheerful, and quite as religious as 
in subsequent years. 

If unhallowed aspirations fire the soul there 
is apt to come a time when their fruits taste 
bitter. At such a time, those who are feeding 
upon them are liable to fancy that by the aid 
of wings they might escape beyond the reach 
of the tyrant desires which lash the j aded spirit. 
Will they ever be able to pitch their tents in 
Utopia? Has God promised rest in this world? 
Was this designed as our home? When we be- 
gin to regard it as our portion is not our Father 
doing us a kindness in sending us reminders 
that we are travelers to a better country? 
The longings of the soul are not satisfied by 
what the world can proffer. Hence, Christ's 
invitation, "Come unto me — I will give you 
rest." Trusting God, the believer may attain 
rest here and anticipate still more in the here- 
after — in that world where vanities are past, 



68 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

disappointments forgotten and trials are only 
remembered as they have left results in char- 
acter. There, no worry, no hurry; no fears, 
no tears ; no sorrow, no to-morrow — an eternal, 
cloudless day. 

We shall never find rest till we enter the 
mansions prepared for us by our Father. Do 
the leaves that burst forth in spring-time ever 
find rest till they sink back upon the bosom of 
mother earth? Do the drops of the shower 
cease moving ere they reach the ocean? Will 
not the air be whirling ceaselessly till the earth 
is buried in the sun? Will the heart of the in- 
sect stop throbbing ere its body drops lifeless 
upon the ground? Will not difficulties con- 
front each nation till it topples into oblivion? 
Why marvel then that restlessness is the por- 
tion of every wanderer on earth till his feet 
cross the threshold of home? No quietude till 
we enter "the rest that remaineth to the people 
of God," beyond the sighing and the hoping, 
beyond the struggling and the dying. Never- 
theless, thanks to God, He gives us foretastes 
of the blessedness that awaits us. 

This restlessness of the human heart is con- 
firmed by observation and syllabled with dis- 
tinctness by every tenant of a perishable 
tabernacle. Under the vision of all, the stream 
of life is hastening onward. One by one, drops 
of humanity are swept into the current and 



RESTLESSNESS— RESTFULNESS 69 

carried out of sight. In the maelstrom off the 
coast of Norway floating weeds and drift- 
wood are borne round in concentric circles till 
all disappear in the whirlpool. A fitting figure 
by which to illustrate the disappearance of the 
successive generations of men — the tossings, the 
helplessness, the sadness, the sudden disappear- 
ance of human beings. 

The emptiness of life during its brief and 
uncertain continuance is a theme on which poets 
frequently dwell; but, while asserting with 
emphasis that the world can furnish no satis- 
factory pleasure, they fail in furnishing the 
needed comfort. In directing man's footsteps 
from vanity, they do well, but they do not direct 
them towards the enduring. They exclaim, 
Restlessness here, but they do not tell us how 
and where restfulness may be found. They 
do not condescend to remind us that as this 
life is empty while it continues and its con- 
tinuance brief, we ought to be concerned in 
reference to the future. They might remind 
us at least that the person who knows he must 
leave his present residence acts wisely in mak- 
ing preparation to enter another. The re- 
minder is needed, for they are not few who, 
though they are aware that they must ere long 
remove from the "earthly house of this taber- 
nacle" put forth little effort to secure "a house 
not made with hands." 



VII 

THE EARTH FULL OF MERCY 

What we see in the days which drop like jewels 
at our feet depends in measure on the circum- 
stances which environ us and the spirit which 
rules our lives. The person who has under- 
gone, or is undergoing, an unusual amount of 
suffering manages to see trials everywhere — 
pains racking human bodies, anguish thrilling 
on wearied nerves, tears trickling down wan 
cheeks, calamities brooding over broken hearts, 
worries beginning with the first breath and end- 
ing only with the last, tears from the cradle to 
the grave; is disposed to paint pictures of 
countries devastated, of cities overthrown, of 
lives sacrificed to satisfy ambition, of widows in 
sackcloth, sharing desolate homes with children 
who are crying for bread ; is inclined to expect, 
in kings' courts discord, jealousy, intrigue, dis- 
simulation; in palaces misery rendered hateful 
by the grandeur of its surroundings; in the 
homes of the middle class thirst for wealth, 
more intense because robbed of the hope of ever 
being slaked; yea, and in homes of wretched- 
ness unrequited toil, harassing cares, sickening 
brutality and incurable melancholy. 

The person at whose heart grief is gnawing 
70 



THE EARTH FULL OF MERCY 71 

will be likely to see grief everywhere. In his 
opinion the twin sisters, Sorrow and Tears, sit 
beside the fountain of life, daily companions. 
Blue glasses make the brightest color look blue. 

The person who has felt, or is feeling, the 
flings of fortune is liable to consider disap- 
pointment the inheritance of mortals — every- 
where frustrated hopes, unrealized ambitions, 
fruitless toils, unbearable weariness, burdens of 
old age and forgetfulness as soon as the grave 
is closed. 

As such is the disposition of human nature, 
we are able to affirm that only eyes disposed to 
observe the goodness of God, and only hearts 
attuned to gratitude, are likely to exclaim, 
"The earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy." It 
is true, we are tempted to exclaim, The earth 
is full of crime, of duplicity, of selfishness, of 
heartlessness, of unreliability, of ingratitude, of 
spitefulness, of hatred, of envy. But though 
the devout servant of God sees these — he can 
not do otherwise — he also sees the mercy of 
God above, around, beneath, everywhere. In- 
deed, by this, the condition of his heart is re- 
vealed. Loyal, devoted, grateful, he is able to 
withdraw his eyes from earth's calamities, and 
even from earth's sins, and to fix them joyously 
on the mercy of God. Sin he sees, but as an 
enemy to be vanquished. Anguish he sees, and 
may have felt in his own heart, but in suffering 



72 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

comforted and rendered helpful in the forma- 
tion of character he witnesses manifestations of 
divine mercy. He observes wave after wave of 
temptation dashing against the better purposes 
of man, and breaking them down, but in pardon 
granted, in strength imparted, in hopes inspired, 
he witnesses pleasing exhibitions of the bound- 
less compassion of God. Disappointments he 
has experienced, but in the lessons learned there- 
from he has pleasing evidence of the loving- 
kindness of God. Man's ingratitude, his dis- 
regard of friendships and his forgetfulness of 
the dead have not escaped his observation, but 
in being permitted to believe that self-sacri- 
fice is never unrequited, that friendship be- 
stowed blesses him at least who bestows it, that 
duty done without regard to the reward is the 
noblest kind of goodness — though he who ex- 
hibits a rare measure of self-sacrifice may be 
forgotten ere grass grows on the new-made 
grave, in being permitted to believe that the 
rewards of Christian character are imperish- 
able, he has occasion to magnify the mercy of 
his Maker. 

Mercy, as the term is usually employed, means 
favor shown the undeserving. Understanding 
the word in this sense we have no difficulty in 
accepting the statements of Scripture; for two 
things are evident, namely, man can merit little 
from God; he receives blessings innumerable. 



THE EARTH FULL OF MERCY 73 

Hence few things are more conspicuous than the 
displays of our Maker's merciful kindness. We 
are momentarily the recipients of unmerited 
favors. The monuments of His mercy are as 
numerous as the creatures that feed on His 
bounty. Consequently, with hearts properly 
attuned, we ought to find no difficulty in discov- 
ering manifestations of divine goodness. Alas ! 
such is our alienation from the Creator that we 
are in a state of dissonance with our environ- 
ment. When in harmony with Him we can not 
fail to find evidences of His mercy pouring into 
our hearts from everything around us. The 
very atmosphere is fragrant with love. The 
table may not be loaded with delicacies, but 
as God furnished what it has, it testifies to in- 
terest in us — an interest greater than we merit. 
The clothing may not be purple and fine linen, 
but is more abundant and of better quality than 
has been furnished to many whose characters 
merit more than ours. The home may not be 
a palace, but it is not a cave, nor a hut, nor an 
iceberg. The favors we covet may not come 
every morning and every evening, like the ravens 
which fed Elijah; nevertheless they come 
oftener to us than to many another. Success, 
such as we desire, may not be ours, but if we 
teach ourselves to sympathize with those who 
have been less successful, gratitude may be ours. 
If we have been called upon to endure chasten- 



74 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

ing, let us remember that it is a mercy we are 
not consumed. 

Fitted to appreciate God's loving-kindness, 
we shall discover no place in which it is not 
visible. The earth, upheld by a hand divine, is 
still in care of Him who "maketh His sun to rise 
on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on 
the just and on the unjust." The history of 
redemption, from its announcement in Eden to 
the declaration made on Calvary, "It is 
finished," presents evidence of favor shown, not 
alone to those who were obedient to divine laws 
but as well to "a disobedient and gain-saying 
people." In the calling of Abraham and in the 
revelation of a purpose of conferring blessings 
upon "all the nations of the earth," in the fuller 
unfolding of that purpose to Isaac and to 
Jacob, in the descent of the seventy into Egypt 
and in the education the chosen people there re- 
ceived, in their deliverance from bondage after 
they had grown to be a people capable of being 
organized into a nation which should be the 
custodian of faith in the only living and true 
God, in the announcement of the law from 
Mount Sinai, in the passage over Jordan, in the 
conquest of Canaan, in the influence accorded to 
the priesthood, in the messages of the prophets, 
in the greatness attained by the chosen people 
under the reign of David, in every bleeding 
lamb laid on the altar, a type of Him who was 



THE EARTH FULL OF MERCY 75 

offered as a sacrifice for sin, yea, in a series of 
acts stretching through centuries God was mak- 
ing displays of His mercy, to a people who 
merited condemnation and punishment. In 
tracing the history of cities and empires which 
have perished — Babylon, Nineveh, Tyre, Jeru- 
salem, the Persian empire, the Medo-Persian, 
the Macedonian, the Roman — we have no diffi- 
culty in observing evidences of divine mercy in 
the fact that they were permitted, after becom- 
ing corrupt, to topple into oblivion, their mis- 
sion having been accomplished. Nor should 
we doubt that He has displayed His goodness 
to the children of men in furnishing motives to 
obedience of His laws, in assuring us that 
wickedness shall not be permitted to mar the 
happiness of the just, and in strengthening the 
desire of being found in the number of those who 
shout, "Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy 
name be glory for thy mercy and for thy 
truth's sake." Hopes, founded on the mercy of 
God, are capable of sustaining the soul, not only 
in the house where His honor dwelleth, but as 
well in the home of the Laplander, in the cave 
of the Hottentot, in the wigwam of the Indian, 
in the garret of the poor man and in the man- 
sion of the prince. Everywhere pardon is at- 
tainable. Everywhere the hope of immortality 
may inspire the soul. Even in abodes of 
cruelty and in haunts of vice, divine tenderness 



76 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

is displayed in extending life and crowning it 
with unmerited blessings. Beside the bed of 
sick, Mercy sits, recounting from the past the 
incidents which illustrate the goodness of God, 
counseling resignation and inspiring hope. 
At the gateway of death she is heard whisper- 
ing, "Take courage; God's compassion is 
great." 

Humbled by a sense of our own unworthiness, 
imbued with the spirit of thankfulness and ex- 
perienced in discerning evidences of divine 
goodness, we may have been able to observe, 
after close and continued inspection, that some 
of the clouds which overshadowed our lives were 
silver-edged. Others have seemed to open over 
our heads, giving us a view of the measureless 
depths above. Some have gathered round us so 
closely, and have continued so long, that we 
have come to regard them as avenues made by 
our Father through which we may j ourney with 
safety to a cloudless land. As on this ascend- 
ing pathway, we pause to shed tears over new 
griefs we hear mercy whispering, "The end is 
not yet" ; "Sorrow may endure for a night, but 
joy cometh in the morning." 

God's mercy finds its motives in His love. It 
could find no motive outside of Himself. Only 
disinterested benevolence can prompt the in- 
jured to show favors to the unrepentant in- 
jurer who neither has nor can acquire the power 



THE EARTH FULL OF MERCY 77 

of inflicting remediless injury. Can any other 
motive prompt omnipotence to heap kindnesses 
on those who are multiplying acts of disobedi- 
ence and who could not place Almightiness 
under obligations even if they strove to do so? 
What motive save benevolence could prompt to 
the display of mercy? Would it lessen abso- 
lute dominion if the sun and all its circling 
worlds lapsed into oblivion? Would it obscure 
the immaculate holiness of God if human beings 
enthroned iniquity? Though God's mercy finds 
its motive in Himself we are not to assume that 
merciful kindness is displayed in equal measure 
towards all. Of the twelve Apostles, three were 
more favored than the remaining nine. The 
mercy of God is gratuitous, as free as the air 
which is free to all — to Hottentot and to the 
King on his throne; as free as work which is 
free to those who are resolved to find it, and 
take it when found. Like labor, the mercy of 
God will bring no gain to the man who makes 
no effort as a consequence of having it. It will 
never build up a character for him. Acres of 
untilled prairie or square miles of timber land 
will yield no profit to the man who refuses to 
cultivate the gift. 

Mercy is not disposed to abandon her plea 
because Almightiness is on the throne, nor to 
lessen the urgency of her claim because a guilty 
culprit is at the bar. She is not disheartened 



78 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

on seeing feeble love in her court, nor elated at 
the sight of boastful moral excellence. Her 
"balances are well adjusted." Neither in the 
presence of innate sinfulness, nor of willful ob- 
duracy is she deterred from asking for careful 
consideration of her proffered favors. She 
claims that there is no human being who does 
not need her interposition. She maintains she 
has the right to press her claims on every 
sentient creature till reason is dethroned or the 
heart ceases to beat. 

As divine mercy is disinterested in its dis- 
play, gratuitous in its character, helpful in its 
dominion and unchangeable in its manifesta- 
tions, it promotes cheerfulness of heart, purity 
of motive, sweetness of spirit, consistency of 
life and fullness of gratitude. 



VIII 

CHEER VS. FOLLY 

Whilst no inconsiderable portion of the human 
family have been flippantly saying, "Common 
sense is rare, folly abundant," Lord Bacon with 
the dignity of a philosopher has said, "There is 
in human nature generally more of the fool 
than of the wise." The testimony of the man 
who said, "Reading makes a full man, writing 
an exact man, conversation a ready man," is 
worthy of consideration. 

Consequently, it is incumbent on us to con- 
sider whether we may unceremoniously dismiss 
such statements, or should regard them as 
founded in fact and inquire how we are to main- 
tain good cheer. 

We are seemingly compelled to concede that 
human beings by thousands have given exhibi- 
tions of follies, in dimensions vast, in character 
varied; the reasonable and the unreasonable; 
the curable and the incurable; the poorly 
veiled, their character ascertainable, and the 
cunningly devised, whose glittering robes com- 
mon sense finds difficulty in removing; the ex- 
cusable — small follies employed as an opiate to 
greater follies, and the inexcusable — such as well 
equipped knaves launch on the public to re- 
79 



80 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

lieve the plethoric purses of the over-credu- 
lous. 

When we think of the frenzy of unhallowed 
ambition, the silliness of arrogance, the idiocy 
of dissimulation, the blindness of bigotry, the 
imbecility of perjury, the foolery of inebriety, 
the senselessness of sensuality, the futility of 
dishonesty, the impotence of hypocrisy, the de- 
mentia of tyranny and the fruitlessness of 
malice and envy, we marvel that there is folly 
enough in the world to keep these and their 
kindred vices so painfully prominent. 

Human nature receives a severe shock when 
one reads Gibbon's account of the perjury of 
the barbarian, the Prince of the Avars, who after 
swearing — by the fires, by the forests, by the 
mountains, by the heavens, by the gods of the 
heavens and by the God who spoke in the Bible 
— that he had no intention hostile to Sirmium, 
rose from his knees and at once dispatched an 
envoy to the Roman Emperor, commissioned to 
say, "As Sirmium is invested on all sides and in- 
capable of defending itself against my all-con- 
quering forces, prudence dictates its immediate 
surrender." 

Such folly ought to be impossible in every age. 
And yet, how shall we account for the fact that 
hearts which are shocked by such madness seem 
to beat regularly while citizens of a civilized 
nation are giving perjured testimony in courts 



CHEER VS. FOLLY 81 

of justice, prompted thereto not by the hope of 
winning an empire, but lured by the desire of 
securing the acquital of a political friend whose 
conduct merits penalty, or bought by money 
insufficient in quantity to purchase a dead 
donkey. Folly has its protean forms; one of 
these is inconsistency. 

Moreover, of those who denounce this bar- 
barian for deceiving his enemy till he was pre- 
pared to crush him, some, it may be, are not 
indisposed to allay the suspicions of a de- 
termined foe until they are ready to meet him 
in open combat. "Self is the man ;" and some- 
times conscience has trouble in maintaining its 
stand between him and what he desires to ac- 
quire. 

From Sir John Lubboch's "Prehistoric 
Times" and Henry M. Stanley's "In Darkest 
Africa" we obtain dark pictures of the follies 
of savages. While striving to persuade our- 
selves that no such degrading practices char- 
acterize civilized nations, the morning paper is 
laid on our table containing accounts of thefts, 
defalcations, arson, cruelty, murders, suicides 
— crimes of almost every name. With a sigh 
we ask, for folly and crime has any savage 
tribe surpassed this nation the last twenty- 
four hours? 

While striving to recall from memory the 
names of the veterans in folly — Nebuchadnez- 



82 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

zar, Athaliah, Jezebel, Joe Smith, the Simon 
who lived on a stone pillar, and his admirers 
who journeyed miles to honor his folly; the 
names of some few of the men who made a busi- 
ness of scourging themselves almost daily; the 
bishops who declared no man could enter 
heaven who wore whiskers while on earth, and 
of the bishops who affirmed every whiskerless 
man was liable to remain in purgatory limit- 
less ages — our minds are perturbed by the 
question, How many comfortable homes for the 
poor might have been erected with the money 
now represented in the war-debts of Christian 
nations ? 

Almost every citizen in these nations would 
concur in regarding as a champion in folly 
and a monster in wickedness the ancient King 
of the Lombards, Alboin, who, while in a state 
of intoxication, ordered one of his officers to 
fill the skull of Cunimund, his wife's father, 
with wine and give it to the Queen, Rosamond, 
accompanied with the message, "Drink and re- 
joice with your father." All agree in pro- 
nouncing Alboin a monster. But in what lan- 
guage shall we characterize the conduct of 
powerful nations in pressing cups of human 
blood to the lips of tens of thousands whose 
chief demerit was citizenship in a weak na- 
tion. 

So common is folly that we sometimes find it 



CHEER VS. FOLLY 83 

displayed even by those who ordinarily mani- 
fest good judgment. 

Ahithophel, David's counselor, was foolish 
enough to ruin a life-long reputation for com- 
mon sense by setting his household in order 
and hanging himself. His greatness did not 
keep him from folly ; it rendered his folly great. 
Strange! superior prudence and excessive fool- 
ishness in the same person. It evidences the 
widespread sway of senselessness and the fact 
that rashness and good judgment may dwell 
side by side. "He set his household in order" 
— prudence. "He hanged himself" — folly. 
And Absalom, rendered half-demented by seem- 
ing success, did not see Hushi's purpose. 

Alexander the Great possessed masterful 
good sense along most lines. Nevertheless, he 
journeyed across the sands of Egypt to induce 
a priestess to declare him the son of a god; 
he demanded and joyously accepted worship as 
a divine person ; he longed for wider dominion ; 
he died a victim of intemperance. 

Woolsey, when the disfavor of England's 
monarch clipped the wings of his ambition, was 
so overwhelmed by folly as to mourn incon- 
solably over the loss of smiles which could not 
ensure honor and the existence of frowns 
which could not destroy greatness. 

I will not pause to illustrate the subject 
from specimens obtainable in the markets of 



84 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

unreasonableness now transacting business. It 
is less hazardous to discharge columbiads over 
the graves of mosquitoes of the long ago or 
at follies now existent in China, Japan, Corea 
or Russia, than at living lions near our own 
homes. 

Both in public and private life there are fool- 
eries many, some of which we must bear with 
patience till the tricks by which men destroy 
their happiness die a natural death. To ex- 
pect to annihilate them by inveighing against 
them is as unreasonable as the hope of gather- 
ing asphodels of the poetic species from seed 
sown on Sahara's sands; as unprofitable as the 
effort to transmute a tiger's rage into kind- 
ness; as unsuccessful as the transportation of 
diamonds from fairyland; as unremunerative as 
the business of weaving robes of beauty from 
moonbeams, as one-sided as the struggle to in- 
duce a hyena to prefer mercy to human flesh. 

Perhaps we may venture to hope that some 
day Folly's friends may treat her as Alaric's 
soldiers treated his corpse — divert a river from 
its course, erect a magnificent tomb in the 
river-bed, deposit her corpse therein, restore 
the river to its channel, then, that the place 
of her burial may remain unknown, put to 
death all who took part in the obsequies. 

Meanwhile, what shall they do to maintain 
cheerfulness who, interested in the progress of 



CHEER VS. FOLLY 85 

humanity, continuously find difficulty in keep- 
ing up courage while the long-hoped-for con- 
summation is delaying its arrival? 

Let them retain faith in humanity's future. 
This will aid in repelling the approaches of 
despondency, and impart strength for success- 
ful service in the coming struggle between opti- 
mistic and pessimistic conceptions of man's 
earthly future. There is no valid reason why 
we should not entertain a well-grounded hope 
that the vessel freighted with earth's millions — 
even though it may drift at one time to the 
right and at another time to the left — will be 
making progress towards its predestined haven. 
Since the dawn of history the world has been 
drawing nearer the much coveted state — is 
still advancing; and with probable occasional 
lapses is almost certain to continue its prog- 
ress. If, as we have a right to conclude, nearly 
all civilized nations have weariedly worked 
their way out of savagery; if, as seems to be 
the case, many less favored tribes following the 
footsteps of the Anglo-Saxon race, are emerg- 
ing from intellectual, social, moral and spiritual 
darkness, why should we doubt that the world 
is on its way to a higher state? In fact prog- 
ress is in the air. We are warranted in 
believing that the material and spiritual condi- 
tion of savages in Africa is more hopeful to- 
day than it was when Livingstone sacrificed 



86 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

his life in the hope of interesting the world in 
the uplift of the lowly; yea, is more encourag- 
ing than it was when Henry M. Stanley worked 
his way through the tangled forests where 
starvation lurked. 

"Be of good cheer." There is now, as there 
always has been, a large number of persons 
who, possessed of living faith, are ready to de- 
vote their energies to hasten the dawn of a bet- 
ter day. Indeed, if Luther, Calvin and a few 
co-workers wrought such marvelous changes in 
forms of faith and modes of worship; if Wil- 
berforce almost single-handed suppressed the 
slave traffic; if Howard ameliorated the con- 
ditions of the prisons of Europe — giving his 
life for the uplift of the friendless, why may 
we not believe that it only requires zealous 
workers to produce surprising results when 
God's time for effecting great changes has 
come ? 

"Hope on, hope ever." Do not underesti- 
mate the practical efficiency of a well-directed, 
properly rounded education — the cultivation of 
intellect, conscience, affections, will and the re- 
ligious nature. Nor are evidences wanting 
which indicate advance along these and kindred 
lines. Enthusiasm is running higher. The 
spirit of self-sacrifice is greater. Auxiliary 
forces are more numerous and better drilled. 
The determination to win victory is more gen- 



CHEER VS. FOLLY 87 

eral and by consequence more irresistible. 
The cohorts of the advancing columns feel the 
weight of responsibility more keenly than ever 
before — to appearances at least. 

In the present age the exigencies of indi- 
vidual life are so pregnant with far-reaching 
consequences that a person unless blind to his 
own interests is led almost unconsciously to 
cultivate the gifts with which he was endowed 
at birth. 

Be not disheartened. Folly does not possess 
unlimited control in the world. She sometimes 
finds difficulty in retaining her mastery over 
those with whom she does an almost daily busi- 
ness. Not a few of her patrons, who often use 
her well advertised nostrums, learn by experi- 
ence that common sense has better goods at 
more reasonable prices. 

Consequently, they usually manage to have 
a considerable amount of Wisdom's treasures 
on hand ready for profitable investment. 
They may be inconsistent — who is not? — but 
the sum total of their influence often re- 
dounds to the advantage of society — conduct 
disastrous to themselves proving instructive to 
the public. The good survives ; the evil dies. 
Common sense is possessed of a charmed life — 
one which none of Folly's poisoned arrows can 
destroy. Her winged javelins are like mos- 
quitoes, troublesome while engaged in business 



88 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

but soon swept by health-freighted winds into 
the great unknown. 

"Esto vir." "With the well advised is wis- 
dom." Though "wisdom is too high for a 
fool," it "is profitable to direct" — "is better 
than weapons of war." We may draw inspira- 
tion from the quickened spirit of interest in 
humanity, as evinced by a deeper, more potent 
sense of brotherhood which is testified to in 
moral reforms and in almost every species of 
philanthropic enterprise — in the phenomenal 
liberality of the wealthy towards the erection 
and maintenance of colleges, asylums, hospi- 
tals, homes for the unfortunate and for the 
promotion of "peace on earth and good will 
toward men." 

The millions of dollars given in recent years 
by men who fully recognize their responsibility 
as stewards of heaven's bounties is a pleasing 
evidence of a coming dawn. In the fact that 
God's purposes parallel the ages, and that He 
works through those who consecrate themselves 
to his service, we have ground for the belief 
that man's future will be marked by a steady 
advance. Consequently, though there is much 
folly and consequent wickedness — yea, much 
which we can not hope to cure speedily — there 
is no occasion to become disheartened in work 
or pessimistic in spirit. God reigns. The hu- 
man conscience still responds to cogent appeals. 



CHEER VS. FOLLY 89 

Fuller development awaits the human intellect. 
The will of man, rendered stronger by gradual 
development, is likely to be better fitted to 
carry out honorable impulses. 

The human heart will long more intensely for 
emancipation from follies and their prolific 
cause, sin. The star of hope, whose light first 
shone on Bethlehem's plain shall some day 
illumine the world. "Even so, come, Lord 
Jesus." 



VERSE 



MOURNER 

Go thou to Bethany, see there the mourner, 
Who in her lonely and desolate home 

Weeps o'er the loss of a friend and a brother, 
Fearing lest Christ has forgotten his own. 

Kindest and best of the friends of the weeper, 
Hallowed is grief by the grief that was Thine, 

Tears shed by Thee at the grave of the sleeper, 
Sweet'ning my sorrows, give comfort divine. 

Go to Gethsemane, where in the garden 
Jesus, submissive, rich conquest has won; 

Strength is imparted and weakness finds 
pardon — 
Now may the will of the Father be done. 

Pattern of meekness, consoler in sorrow, 
Teach me my life and my all to resign, 

Trusting in Thee for each coming to-morrow — 
Stronger Thy will and less erring than mine. 

See thou on Calvary Jesus in anguish, 
Off'ring himself as a ransom for sin, 

Giving to hearts that in weakness now languish 

Hopes of an endless communion with Him. 

93 



94 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

Moved by the spirit of self-abnegation, 
Christ was in pain and in sorrow for me; 

Calm let me look on my bitter prostration, 
Saying, O Saviour, I'll bear it for Thee. 

Go to the sepulcher where the lone sister 
Burdened with grief is in search of God's 
Son, 

Read thou the lesson there taught to the weeper, 
Life is not ended ere life's work is done. 

Prince by the grave with the Magdalen weeping, 
Aid me to find in my grief, and my loss 

Promise of joy, a result of Thy keeping: 

Bright are the jewels that drop from a cross. 

Lo! from the chambers of death Christ has 
risen, 

Victor and Lord over death and its sting, 
Shattered the bars of the tomb's gloomy prison, 

Death is the captive of Jesus the King. 

Risen in triumph, exultant Redeemer, 

Tutor my heart that is shrouded in gloom 

That for the mourner, each sister and brother, 
Jesus, companion, sheds hope on the tomb. 

Go thou to Olivet, gateway to glory; 

Bathe in the light from the home of the blest ; 
There at the end of this life's troubled story, 

Weary and heart-sore, the mourner may rest. 



"BE OF GOOD CHEER" 95 

Jesus ascended, my Lord and my Keeper, 
Thanks to God's mercy, to all men is given 

Life in the flesh of which death is the Reaper: 
Thou giveth passports to calm rest in 
Heaven. 

EVER NEAR, O LORD, TO THEE 

Tune, "Toplady." 

When a threatening storm draws near, 
Or the sky is dark and drear, 
If my path with snares is laid, 
Though my feet from Thee have 

strayed, 
In the darkness may I be 
Ever near, O Lord, to Thee. 

As I stand within Thy court, 
Pleading with Thee for support, 
Joining with Thy people there 
In their praise and in their prayer, 
By my worship may I be 
Ever near, O Lord, to Thee. 

While I bow beside the bier, 
There to drop a bitter tear 
On the cold and pallid brow, 
Warm with pulsing life till now, 
In my sorrow may I be 
Ever near, O Lord, to Thee. 



96 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

If deep sadness chills my heart, 

And refuses to depart, 

As I bend beneath the grief, 

Sighing deeply for relief, 

In my sadness may I be 

Ever near, O Lord, to Thee. 

Since new strength I need each day 
On my weary pilgrim way, 
As my prayers to Thee ascend 
For Thy guidance to the end, 
In my pleading may I be 
Ever near, O Lord, to Thee. 

If I'm called to work for Thee 

And my heart is chiding me 

For my penury of love — 

Love that comes from Thee above, 

In my service may I be 

Ever near, O Lord, to Thee. 

As I walk in Beulah land, 
Guided by Thy helpful hand, 
Treading paths Thou deemest best, 
To my everlasting rest, 
In the journey may I be 
Ever near, O Lord, to Thee. 

When on Pisgah's heights I stand, 
Gazing o'er the promised land, 



"BE OF GOOD CHEER" 97 

Yearning for a mansion blest, 
Where the laureled warriors rest, 
In my longing may I be 
Ever near, O Lord, to Thee. 

When my work on earth is done 
And the last great vict'ry won, 
As I lift my eyes above, 
Gazing on Eternal love, 
Dying — living, may I be 
Ever near, Lord, to Thee. 



THE BABY'S DEAD 

With saddened heart and quiv'ring lips 
You look upon the little slips, 
Mementoes, lying on the bed 
Where baby laid its fevered head. 

With trembling pulse and accents wild 
You grasp a plaything of your child 
And lay it in some secret drawer 
Where you may see it evermore. 

With tearful eye upon the spot 
Where baby kneeled beside its cot 
To say, "I lay me down to sleep," 
You bow alone ofttimes to weep. 



98 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

The rose you plant upon its tomb 
You guard in hope to see it bloom; 
And with your lips in accents mild 
Adore the Keeper of your child. 

Ere frosts of winter chill its bloom 
You take the rosebush to the room 
Whence baby by a Father's hand 
Was taken to a better land. 

When tunes you hummed in accents soft 
Return to you again and oft, 
You pause to wonder if the King 
Has music which your babe can sing. 

The path on which your baby trod 
In going to its Father, God, 
Is made by infant steps so plain 
That you may find your babe again. 

BE SILENT 

Lord, sorrow from a new-made dart 
Has left a deep and painful wound, 

Till from a bleeding, aching heart 

Wells up the prayer, Can help be found? 

Extract, Lord, the bitter sting, 

And draw my heart to Thy dear side, 

That I may learn to sweetly sing, 
In God alone my hopes abide. 



"BE OF GOOD CHEER" 99 

As at a grave Thou didst not chide 

The one who mourned a brother lost, 

But bade the weeper's faith abide, 
To me give cheer when tempest-tost. 

The garden, Lord, saw Thee in grief 

TiU Thou didst say, "Thy will be done"; 

Then I, when grieved, may find relief — 
The aid that came to God's own son. 

As in a dark and thorny way, 

Thou didst in meekness bear Thy cross, 

Oh! give to me Thyself as stay, 
For else I sink beneath my loss. 

Then when my heart has learned to see, 
What now it scarce can understand — 

That silence leaves a door for Thee — 
My joy shall be Thy guiding hand. 



THE PLEADING SOUL 

Lord, my feeble, trembling soul 
Pleads humbly, Make me whole, 
'Tis Thee I seek: 
Stretch thy kindly hand to me 
And bring me close to Thee, 
I am so weak. 



100 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

Merit none have I with Thee, 
But Thou hast thought of me, 
In endless love; 
Send a beam of light each day, 
To guide my feet the way, 
To Thee above. 

Then my quickened soul may see 
What Thou wilt do for me, 
O Christ, the Lamb ; 
And the life made dear to Thee 
Shall henceforth be to me 
A pleasing psalm. 

When by grief or pain I'm tried, 
If Thou are by my side 
To hold me up ; 
With my hand secure in Thine, 
Inspired by love divine, 
I'll drink the cup. 

GOD REIGNS 

Clouds and darkness round about me, 
Heaving billows 'neath my feet, 

Open, Lord, mine eyes to see Thee 
Reigning on Thy mercy seat. 

And if troubles sore o'ertake me, 
Pressing sharp my burdened heart, 



"BE OF GOOD CHEER" 101 

Wilt Thou lift my spirit to Thee, 
Kindly healing sorrow's smart? 

When life's silver thread is broken, 
And the soul shall take its flight, 

Trusting Thee shall be the token 
Of a joy that knows no blight. 



GRACE TO HELP 

Grant me, ever helpful Saviour, 

Such a measure of Thy grace, 

That though trials oft assail me 

I may say with beaming face, 

Rich possession, 

"Grace to help in time of need." 

And when tender ties are severed, 
Health departs or fortune fails; 
When I fear death's sharpened arrows, 
I may know how this avails, 
Blessed comfort, 
"Grace to help in time of need." 

Sure of aid in daily living, 

Why should I show discontent? 
Take away the zeal of having 

Strength not needed ere it's sent, 
Sweet assurance, 
"Grace to help in time of need." 



102 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

PATHWAYS TO GLORY 

Our sorrows and trials we fervently pray, 
That faith being tested they'll soon pass away ; 
But if at our word they refuse to depart, 
In mercy, O Saviour, speak peace to the heart. 

A cross in Thy lot and a crown won by Thee, 
No crosses for us then, no conquests have we; 
The calmer we are in the burdens we bear, 
The clearer our titles, crowns brilliant to wear. 

There's weakness in us, but no weakness in 

Thee, 
O, grant us, we pray Thee, the strength that 

shall be 
A pledge of new hope on our wearisome way, 
From out of the darkness and into the day. 

In moments of languor allurements may come 
To slacken our zeal in the race we're to run; 
The tempter may say in the guise of a friend, 
"On Christ for true comfort no longer depend." 

Most surely our hearts and our lips may de- 
clare 

Bereavements may come, but we will not de- 
spair, 

The world ne'er can grant us the needed relief, 

The Saviour will carry our burdens oi grief. 



"BE OF GOOD CHEER" 103 

Yea, each setting sun as it sinks in the west 
Enkindles new hopes of a home of the blest, 
Revealing to view on a scroll in the sky 
Our sorrows as pathways to mansions on high. 

YE ARE GOD'S TEMPLE 

My Maker bade me rear a home 
Of jewels, gems and precious stone, 
Where I might find the sweetest rest 
In fellowship with Him as guest. 

To build a palace for the King 
I found ere long I could not bring 
One single treasure fit to grace 
The grandeur of His dwelling place. 

I had no ground on which could rise 
A temple reaching to the skies ; 
Within my heart I had no love, 
Commending me to God above. 

My life from sin I could not free, 
That He might deign to dwell with me; 
I had no gems of moral worth, 
My life was tainted from its birth. 

From sin I sought through Christ relief; 
He kindly bade me go in peace; 
I pledged to make my life a home 
For him who sits on heaven's throne. 



104 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

CHRIST CALLING 

Jesus came from God above, 
Bearing messages of love 
From our Father's throbbing heart; 
Saying, "I will grace impart, 
Cease in paths of sin to roam, 
Journey to your Father's home." 
I reject Him — can it be! — 
Him who came to earth for me? 

In a world where sin is rife, 
Jesus lived a holy life, 
Bidding us His children be 
Like to Him in charity — 
Gentle, kind, forgiving, true, 
Choosing right in what we do, 
I reject Him — can it be! — 
Him who counsel gave to me? 

Saddened souls Christ came to cheer; 
With His hand He dries the tear ; 
On His heart He bids us rest 
Till we reach our home, the blest, 
Where amid the saints we'll meet 
Christ upon His mercy seat. 
I reject Him — can it be! — 
Him who sweetens life for me? 



"BE OF GOOD CHEER" 105 

Christ the Lord to set us free, 
Shed His life on Calvary, 
And to those redeemed from sin — 
Cleansed without and pure within, 
Death can have no pang or dread, 
One in Christ, their Living Head. 
I reject Him — can it be! — 
Him who died on Calvary? 

Risen Saviour, Lord of Light, 
Thou shalt judge the world by right, 
From Thy throne all men shall hear 
Words of wrath or words of cheer, 
Fixing what their state shall be 
Through the long eternity. 
I reject Thee — can it be! — 
Thee, the future judge of me? 

GOING HOME 

O Mother, dear, I'm thinking of the tale you 

told 
Of Enoch, one who walked with God in days of 

old 
Until while they together sweetly walked alone, 
The Lord in kindness took His weary pilgrim 

home. 

You know that ere life's hopes were crushed 
within my heart, 



106 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

In agony I prayed that we might nowise part 
Until in love I twined a garland round thy 

head, 
Made from the recollections of our sainted 

dead. 

And now, alas; like echoes from a distant sea, 
Nightly in vivid, troubled dreams there come to 

me 
Angelic voices which in chorus sweetly sing, 
"O wearied one, come to the palace of the 

King." 

Such voices, loving daughter, which in song you 

hear, 
Perhaps may be no more than thrills of hope 

and fear, 
The blended echoes of our fervent, tearful plea 
That Christ would have a home prepared for 

you and me. 

O Source of life and peace and hope, what 

means this sigh, 
This quiv'ring pulse, this labored breath, this 

sightless eye? 
Oh, grant, I pray, that voice or smile or nod at 

last 
May prove that from our home its treasure has 

not passed. 



"BE OF GOOD CHEER" 107 

O Father, as on earth all friends at death must 
part, 

"Thy will not mine be done," but to my throb- 
bing heart, 

Wilt Thou in mercy send, I pray, some earthly 
friend, 

To furnish love and guidance till I reach life's 
end? 

Mother, dear, directed by a brilliant beam 

1 slowly walked until I reached the narrow 

stream, 
Where, lo! a boatman, lapping water with his 

oar, 
Asked of me, "Shall I row thee to the happy 

shore?" 

Then hopefully I gazed upon the distant light 
Whose dazzling brightness cheered my heart 

but dimmed my sight 
And cried "I'm called of God, O boatman, take 

me home, 
I am so cold, so weak, so utterly alone." 

While with fond hopes I watched the rower 

lift his oar, 
There came to me in accents mild from off the 

shore, 



108 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

"My friend, return to earth, thy work is not 

yet done. 
I'll call, yea, call for thee when thou thy crown 

hast won." 



MISSIONARY HYMN 

Star of the Morning, the promise of noonday, 
Scatter the darkness that broods o'er the earth, 
Grant to the nations a light on their pathway, 
Brilliant in splendor and priceless in worth. 

Father, Protector, our friend on life's high- 
way, 
Broaden our efforts and magnify power, 
Lest in the toil of the on-coming midday 
We may not meet the behest of the hour. 

Beacons of light are now piercing the darkness, 
Kindled by those who repose in the grave; 
Now we inherit the cause in its vastness — 
May we endeavor earth's millions to save. 

Many, in blindness, are groping for sunlight, 
Hoping some message of guidance may come 
Ere they are lost in the gloom of the midnight, 
Helpless and hopeless, despairing, undone. 

Owing Thee service as consecrate workers, 
Lord, in return for compassion from Thee, 



"BE OF GOOD CHEER" 109 

For the relief of those needing kind helpers, 
May we each answer, "O Saviour, call me." 

Then to the erring, bowed low in contrition, 
Freely confessing they're sadly alone, 
We'll make report of a marvelous mission — 
Jesus empowered to pilot men home. 



MY FRIEND AND I 

i. 

In early youth my friend and I, 

When hearts were fresh and hopes were bright, 

Constructed castles in the air 

From quiv'ring beams of radiant light. 

Inlaid with pearls and costly gems, 
These witching forms with sparkles dight, 
So like to smiles from beauty's shrine — 
Inspired, enthused me with delight. 

Imagining the gorgeous view 
Gave promise of an end of strife, 
In ecstasy of joy, I cried, 
"Ah! that's the vision of my life." 

These dazzling gems betoken wealth 
In which men's longings find surcease; 
The gleams of light, ensuring fame, 
Enswathe my soul in robes of peace. 



110 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

My friend exclaimed, "Yon looming cloud, 
Within its dark, portentous folds 
Will soon conceal, perhaps may quench, 
The bounding hopes the vision holds. 

"Resembling scenes on ocean wave, 
These rapt'rous pictures day by day 
Awaken thrills within the soul 
And in a moment pass away. 

"The worlds that dot immensity 
Perhaps have jewels rare in worth, 
But with our eye in search of these 
We fail to win the gems of earth. 

"As suns that shine from far-off skies 
Shed feeble light on half-blind eyes, 
As sight grows dim to gems in hand 
If set on gleams in Fairyland, 
Why hope that rays from distant moons 
Shall turn our midnights into noons, 
Or gazing on some distant sphere 
Will aid in reaping blessings here? 
They bid adieu to all that's great 
Who while they crave enlarged estate 
Are stumbling in their earthly race 
By gazing into empty space." 



"BE OF GOOD CHEER" 111 

n. 

Air castles fall and Syrens call: 
Shall I reside at Pleasure's side? 

As all the dreams of sunny youth 
Have one by one lost wonted power, 
I stand enchanted with the smile 
Of pleasure in her charming bower. 

Within the sheltered nooks of life, 
With wooing voice she bids me quaff 
The foaming bowl of joys untold, 
And sport and hope and sing and laugh. 

Her votaries, she testifies, 
Yield meekly to her fond embrace; — 
Their troubles, trials, rebuffs and woes 
Are sweetened by her smiling face. 

As year by year — each sad and drear — 
The hungry vultures in the heart 
Have sighed and moaned incessantly, 
I pray they all may soon depart. 

If Pleasure will but still their cry 
By her enchanting, magic voice, 
I'll choose her as my constant guide 
And in her triumph will rejoice. 



112 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

"Those who on Pleasure's ocean roam 
Are ill at ease 'til they reach home, 
While those, my friend, on calmer sea 
Are undisturbed, where'er they be. 

"As near the hills of Arctic snow 
Few plants, save scentless lichens grow, 
So out on Pleasure's unblessed ground 
Life's sweetest blooms are seldom found. 

"Though diamonds from polluted bed 
May glitter on a culprit's head, 
No gem procured from Pleasure's field 
Can to its wearer honor yield. 

"On soil volcanic fires have strown, 

'Tis true some kinds of plants are grown, 

Yet forces in the crater's womb 

Can readily consume their bloom. 

"Yea, even ere they leave their guests, 
Can shake the base on which life rests, 
For where these burning currents pass 
They leave a blackened, smold'ring mass." 



m. 

As Pleasure dies my faith revives; 
When life is past shall I be cast 
On Time's lone shore forevermore? 



"BE OF GOOD CHEER" 113 

Beneath an aged, giant tree 
That stood beside the rock-bound sea, 
My friend and I a-musing lay 
While gazing on the fading day. 

With fourscore years and whitened head 
I'm younger than this tree, I said, 
And this is younger than yon reef 
Whose age plays truant with belief. 

The rocky reef this current laves, 
Whose forms were chiseled by the waves, 
An infant is, compared with earth, 
Which cosmic forces brought to birth. 

Yet e'en the earth itself is young — 
A new-born child of yonder sun, 
And that is but a youthful star 
Amid the suns that gleam afar. 

The setting sun, oh, wondrous sight! 
Has gathered up its rays of light ; 
Ah ! do these fading beams portend 
That we on earth find here an end? 

"My friend, into the great Beyond, 
In ceaseless heaving currents pour 
All greatness, power, fame and wealth, 
And leave no ripple on the shore. 



114 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

"Upon its heaving bosom surge 

In silence and in mystery, 

The glad, the sad, the king, the slave, 

To an unending destiny. 

"This world of ours, its story told 
In smile, or tear, in hope, or fear, 
Shall pass out on the thick-veiled sea 
Whose echoes mock the human ear. 

"The sun, with fires extinct, shall be 
Existent still — as certainly 
Submissive to a will supreme 
As smallest wave on mountain stream. 

"As reef and sea, as earth and sun 
Age after age their courses run, 
Does reason tempt the heart to fear 
That all man's hopes shall perish here? 

"Since forward points the hand of Fate 
And change oft ends in higher state, 
Why understand man's death to mean 
Extinction in the great Unseen?" 

And will the Infinite First Cause, 
Who rules in love by unchanged laws, 
Dismiss the soul to spheres unknown? 
Or will He bring it to His throne? 



"BE OF GOOD CHEER" 115 

"These billows, which with deafening roar 
Are dashing on this rocky shore, 
In coming from the distant deep 
To break and perish at our feet, 
Remind us of a boundless sea 
Where waves are forming ceaselessly; 
So life, which now with rush and roll 
Is throbbing through each human soul, 
By passage to this earthly sphere 
To toil and suffer, hope and fear, 
Reveals to us an unseen sea 
Where spirits live eternally." 

Ah! does the grandeur of the sea, 
As it foretells a life to be, 
Unveil within the Great Unknown 
A hand divine to guide us home? 

"Yea, water from the ocean wave, 
Tho hidden in the mountain cave, 
Through unseen courses seeks the sea, 
The home for it fixed by decree. 

"The sun that sets on western sands 
Soon sheds its light on fairer lands, 
And roses from an Arctic night 
May quickly bloom in summer light." 

As I but strove to do the right, 
Exempt from censure in man's sight, 



116 "BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

May I presume that I may gain 
A portion where the happy reign? 

"As flowers that failed to bloom this year, 
May be in bloom another year, 
As seed that fell on unturned earth 
In changed conditions may have birth, 
As ore thrust in the furnace cold 
May issue thence the purest gold, 
So hearts made true by love divine 
In moral excellence may shine. 

"The cultivated vineyard yields 

More precious grapes than do the fields ; 

And yet as e'en the barren plain 

Is blessed with sunshine and with rain, — 

We fondly hope there may be found 

Outside the fruitful closure ground, 

Some fruit which matchless love may bring 

Within the storehouse of the King." 



EVER TRUE TO THEE 

Lord, I come before Thee now 

To renew the vow 
Which I gave on bended knee, 
Off'ring pledge that I would be 

Ever true to Thee. 



"BE OF GOOD CHEER" 117 

I have wandered, Lord, from Thee, 

But most tenderly 
Hast Thou called again to me, 
Conscience pleading that I be 

Ever true to Thee. 

Hopefully I humbly bow 

To renew my vow; 
And in fervent love for Thee, 
In my weakness may I be 

Ever true to Thee. 

Lest again I go astray, 

From the narrow way, 
Tempted by an earthly guide 
From Thy care and from Thy side, 

Lord, with me abide. 



CONDESCENDING GREATNESS 

Jehovah "maketh clouds His chariot 
And walketh on the wings of wind": 
Then will majestic greatness deign to be 
A refuge on life's stormy sea? 

"My friend, 'within the hollow of His hand'- 
Above the waves of anguish borne, 
In passage to an ever cloudless land — 
Our God will shield us in the storm." 



118 «BE OF GOOD CHEER" 

Alas! since "righteousness and judgment are 
The habitation of His throne," 
And I in tortuous paths have roamed afar, 
How can I find a peaceful home? 

"Be calm: God says, 'I'll guide thee with mine 

eye'; 
And while we're walking by His side, 
Along the lighted paths where duties lie, 
We'll find the joys of peace abide." 

"As dust upon the balance — but a drop — 
God counts the nations of the earth": 
Why then should I expect that He will pause 
To still the throbs that grief may cause? 

"Forsooth, 'God numbers hairs upon the head, 
And feeds the ravens when they cry'; 
For countless hosts — the many sainted dead — 
He dried the tear, allayed the sigh." 

Ah! as the fringes of God's robes touch me, 
The while I walk in paths of right, 
I ask from out the shrouded mystery, 
Beyond the darkness is there light? 

"My friend, right through the low'ring sky 

there shines 
A glory on our earthly way, 
And tho to us it seems but darkened lines, 
It marks a path to endless day." 



'BE OF GOOD CHEER" 119 



LONGINGS 

There's a hope I am longing to gain, 
When I'm near to the mercy seat, 
That the Master, repeating my name 
While I'm lying low at His feet, 
Shall instruct me to work in the field, 
With the called and equipped and blest, 
Who are gath'ring the sheaves of the yield 
For the garner of endless rest. 

There's a faith that I long to attain, 
It's a faith that is strong and true, 
Which inflames me with zeal to obtain 
The reward of the favored few, 
Who by doing the all they can do, 
Have a place with the truly blest, 
In a kingdom, the better, the New, 
Where remaineth for them a rest. 

There's a life that I'm anxious to reach, 
When I've ended my journey here; 
It's a life that's beyond the lone beach, 
With its struggle of hope and fear; 
It's a life where the issues are sure, 
Where affections no longer shall roam, 
But the thoughts are eternally pure 
And the soul is in peace — at home. 



JUL 3 1511 



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